The news that the Great Wilderness Queen had arrived at the Luoyun tribe and immediately selected her second consort upon entering their territory, while continuing to advance into Luoyun’s interior with apparent intentions of selecting third and fourth consorts, had recently spread throughout the streets and alleys of the Luoyun tribe.

What excited everyone most was that according to reports, Her Majesty the Queen’s taste in men wasn’t as picky as everyone had imagined. The first was merely a country doctor—while he had good bearing, his looks were only ordinary. The second was even more astonishing: just a nobody who couldn’t amount to anything and only knew how to boast. It was said that when Her Majesty first encountered this second consort, the man was in rags and nearly starving to death. Now he wore fine silk and brocade, accompanying the Queen’s triumphant return with all the dignity of a future royal consort candidate.

This news immediately fired up everyone’s enthusiasm. They had originally thought that with the Queen’s exalted status, position, and beauty, she would surely be extremely picky in choosing royal consorts. Now it seemed she had no particularly high standards at all. Perhaps the Queen had special taste and might even take a fancy to them.

Registration for royal consort selection throughout Luoyun territory became increasingly heated, with arena matches opening one after another. Many people had no special skills but, thinking of that second future royal consort who had been chosen by the Queen while dressed in rags, figured that perhaps Her Majesty was kind-hearted and had special feelings for those in unfortunate circumstances. They all sought out their most tattered clothes and waited at various bustling market roads. It was said that recently, farmers’ coarse cloth and old clothes had become extremely popular in the markets, with prices rising higher than silk and satin.

But they were disappointed, because after selecting her second royal consort, the Queen never chose anyone else, nor did she stop in any towns. The Queen’s procession passed through Luoyun’s various cities at maximum speed. Except for stopping briefly at Quichi, Luoyun’s most prosperous large city, supposedly wanting to establish some kind of shopping center there, she hurried past all other places. Often local officials would come out to greet her, only to be told the Queen had already passed through, greatly disappointing those prepared “future royal consorts.”

Jing Hengbo didn’t care what these people thought. After her panicked escape that day, she immediately ordered the camp to break and travel through the night. After all, whether lying in bed sleeping or pulling up her pants and leaving, she didn’t believe that with Gong Yin’s stubborn personality, he’d have the nerve to break into her military camp and roar like Ma Jingtao: “Why did you run after sleeping with me! Why did you run? Why did you run!”

She was determined not to get entangled with Gong Yin recently. She had cargo in her belly, but didn’t yet know the quality of this cargo. She needed to quickly find the best famous doctors for consultation and find ways to regulate her condition. If she stayed with Gong Yin and he found out, what if he pathologically declared “Get rid of it!”—should she castrate him on the spot or kill him?

For both their safety, he should go do whatever he was supposed to do.

However, according to reports, his lordship was also bringing his family and seemed to perhaps probably maybe also be heading toward Luoyun’s interior…

Jing Hengbo changed her mindset, no longer focusing on Gong Yin and concentrating on her own journey. All along this route, cities were holding so-called husband selection conferences. Though a group of old fogeys from Di Ge kept roaring protests and continuously submitting memorials saying the Queen’s actions were immoral and corrupting, the various tribes and clans didn’t care about such things. Being able to leave one or two people beside the Queen would naturally be greatly beneficial to their own countries and clans.

During this rapid journey, she naturally didn’t forget about seeking capable people. She would send guards ahead to various cities to examine those so-called elites who had been selected, with naturally disappointing results. Actually, this was normal—after all, how many capable people could there be? Moreover, many people had gone straight to Luoyun City, the capital, where the selection scene was grandest and rewards highest. Jing Hengbo also prepared not to waste time and go directly to the capital to take a look.

She didn’t hide anything from the selected first “Little Medical Saint” Si Rongming, directly asking him to take her pulse. Si Rongming detected the pregnancy pulse and was inevitably surprised, though he showed nothing on his face. Like a dutiful doctor, he gave careful instructions, provided various nourishing prescriptions, and personally oversaw her dietary supplements. Though these various thoughtful considerations were his professional habits, seeing them made Jing Hengbo sigh with emotion, unable to help thinking of the Yelu siblings. She didn’t know where they were now—it had been so long without news. She could only give orders again and again for Meng Hu to command the Spider Web Bee Stings to expand their search area around Xueshan and gather intelligence carefully.

Si Rongming took her pulse daily but couldn’t give an accurate assessment of her physical condition. According to him, the child’s condition could only be judged from the mother’s body. While Jing Hengbo’s constitution had originally been very good, recently she seemed to have suffered major damage, resulting in internal deficiency that couldn’t be nourished and hidden depletion that was difficult to supplement. Though it seemed harmless, without three to five years, it would be difficult to completely recover. Whether this damage would affect the child was uncertain.

Jing Hengbo thought that after all, he wasn’t skilled in gynecology and women’s medicine, nor in toxicology. Whether her body had been affected by Gong Yin’s hereditary poison still required finding truly capable people who could provide targeted treatment.

Five days later, her procession had reached fifty li outside Luoyun City. Because they had come too quickly, Luoyun City hadn’t yet received news to come out in welcome. The four thousand troops couldn’t casually approach someone’s capital, so she had the guard army rest in place while she brought her attendants to drink tea at a nearby tea house.

She, Er Gouzi, Feifei, Yong Xue, and the Seven Kills, plus Pei Shu and Meng Potian, completely filled a tea house. As soon as the Seven Kills entered, they loudly competed for seats and tables. After sitting down, one could discover that the Seven Kills’ seating coincidentally separated her from Pei Shu and Meng Potian.

Over there, Pei Shu had a dark expression while Jing Hengbo looked down, pretending to drink tea and smiling.

Since that day when Pei Shu and Meng Potian had gotten drunk in succession in the small town and been sent back to their respective rooms by Jing Hengbo, the relationships between the two men and Jing Hengbo had become somewhat strange, and there seemed to be something odd between the two men as well. Pei Shu no longer stayed close to Jing Hengbo’s side, his face gloomy all day as he brooded over unknown thoughts. Though Meng Potian had lost his previous dissatisfaction and resentment, he still didn’t approach Jing Hengbo, yet no longer sought Pei Shu’s company as before. Among the three, there always lingered a strange atmosphere.

Jing Hengbo didn’t know what had actually happened that night and had no mind to investigate. Regarding these two men’s situation, especially Pei Shu, she adopted an attitude of respectful distance. She believed Pei Shu wasn’t entirely unaware of her condition—it was just that his stubborn nature refused to accept it. Fortunately, though the Seven Kills seemed foolish, each actually had a crystal-clear heart. These days they had been joking around, deliberately separating the three whenever possible, finally managing to quietly hide the awkward and uncomfortable atmosphere.

The group was vaguely divided into three factions, each keeping to themselves. Jing Hengbo faced the official road outside while drinking tea, incidentally watching the various passersby coming and going. This road appeared quite prosperous with extremely heavy foot traffic. Asking the tea house owner, she learned this was still thanks to her—these were all “elites” rushing to Luoyun City to participate in the Queen’s royal consort selection arena.

The owner eagerly refilled her water while enthusiastically chattering: “Haha, recently thanks to the Queen’s blessing, my small shop’s business has improved greatly! The tables haven’t been empty from morning to night! Such a grand scene hasn’t occurred since three years ago when the eldest prince married the Floating Water tribe princess and nobles from both clans gathered to celebrate. Originally there was another joyful event recently—this time it was our person marrying into Floating Water. I heard it was also a match made in heaven, a grand occasion. My small shop was thinking of taking this opportunity to do more business, but who knew the Queen’s consort selection would overshadow that event…”

Jing Hengbo smiled as she listened to his chatter. Just as she was about to drink tea, Yong Xue silently pushed the teacup away, took out her own silver cup, placed a transparent gauze packet inside, picked up the cup, took the teapot from the owner’s hands, gestured for him to step aside, and went behind the tea house. Soon they heard her vigorously scrubbing the teapot and refilling it with fresh water. Meanwhile, Feifei and Er Gouzi had already finished drinking her tea.

Jing Hengbo smiled apologetically at the dumbstruck owner: “My situation is somewhat special—I can’t drink tea. She’s preparing medicinal tea for me…” Thinking of that bitter nourishing medicinal tea, she couldn’t help but grimace, casually asking, “Do the Luoyun and Floating Water tribes have good relations?”

“They’ve been marriage allies for generations…” The owner obviously hadn’t recovered yet, answering in a daze while staring toward the back of the tea house.

“What marriage are they arranging this time?”

“The Floating Water tribe’s second prince proposed to our king, and we’ve already decided on the bride. Normally it should be a princess of marriageable age, but I heard…” The owner had said half his sentence when he suddenly rushed toward the back of the tea house: “Oh my, miss, stop scrubbing! If you scrub anymore, my family’s century-old heirloom pot will break! Oh my, this tea residue is the key to brewing rich, good tea—miss, how did you scrub it all away…”

Jing Hengbo smiled. Yong Xue’s cleanliness obsession was also a deadly matter. Since she became pregnant, though she only had slight drowsiness with no other adverse reactions, Yong Xue’s anxiety level had multiplied. She didn’t know where this girl had developed such cautious habits.

Bored, she turned her gaze outside the tea house when suddenly rapid hoofbeats sounded from down the official road.

Because of the constant flow of people on the official road, everyone’s pace was slow. Now these hoofbeats were fast, obviously indicating urgent business. At this speed, collisions were inevitable. Jing Hengbo moved her stool inward to avoid being caught in the crossfire if someone got knocked in.

But it didn’t happen. Though the hoofbeats were urgent, alarming the people on the road, before everyone could quickly dodge, the horse had already twisted left and right like a ghost, circling around everyone. Its speed didn’t decrease, yet it harmed no one. From Jing Hengbo’s angle, she saw a black streak rolling and weaving, charging left and right, skillfully avoiding the crowd with exquisite precision as it raced forward.

Such superb horsemanship was breathtaking. Even the Horizontal Halberd Elite Camp under Jing Hengbo’s command, personally trained by Pei Shu, had few who could accomplish this. This single display attracted all of Jing Hengbo’s attention, and she couldn’t help standing up to look.

But the horse was extremely fast. She only saw a black streak flash by, disappearing past her side in the blink of an eye. Jing Hengbo looked regretful when suddenly a figure flashed—Yi Qi had already drifted out of the tea house, reaching out to grab the saddle, laughing: “Stop a moment and let my beloved get a good look at you.”

With his light touch, the galloping horse suddenly stopped. The rider on horseback turned around sharply, said nothing, and raised a whip to lash down.

Jing Hengbo frowned, about to call this arrogant when she looked up and saw the person’s profile. As if struck by lightning, she was suddenly stunned.

“Whoosh!” The whip flashed like a serpent’s shadow, but didn’t actually strike Yi Qi. Instead, it turned mid-course, circled around his wrist with a flick. Yi Qi thought the opponent was aiming for his face and raised his hand to counter, but ended up striking empty air against the whip. That person’s whip was as flexible and superb as their horsemanship, swishing around Yi Qi’s wrist to strike their own horse. The black steed neighed loudly, rearing up as if flying, leaping three zhang away in the blink of an eye.

This time even Yi Qi couldn’t help praising: “Good martial arts! Good reflexes! Good horse!” After a pause, he grinned and added: “What a spirited woman!”

This call finally awakened the stunned Jing Hengbo. She suddenly jumped up, about to chase after them when a figure flashed before her—Pei Shu was already blocking her path, frowning as he looked at her.

Jing Hengbo also raised her eyebrows to look at him. She felt no guilt—if you wanted to like her, that was your business. She had already made it clear she owed him nothing.

“Move aside.”

“Who are you chasing after now?” Pei Shu’s gaze was burning.

Jing Hengbo shut her mouth. Turning around, she saw the Seven Kills grinning as they came over, linking arms to form a human wall before her, clearly meaning “if you dare run again, we’ll form a team to chase you down.”

Yong Xue was just bringing out the medicinal tea. Pei Shu grabbed her hand, roughly pressed her down at the table, and said stiffly: “Drink tea! Your complexion has been poor lately. Don’t think you can keep hiding things from us and running around. Whatever it is, if you’re going, we go together.” As he spoke, he picked up the tea, first smelling it, then testing the temperature before shoving it into her hands. His movements were rough, his expression stern.

Jing Hengbo raised her eyebrows, accepted it, and sat down without a word. The tea had just been brought out but was the perfect temperature, with sugar cubes already prepared beside the teacup. She glanced at the Seven Kills standing in a row, the stern-faced Pei Shu, Meng Potian turning away in the distance, and Yong Xue looking at her disapprovingly, then sighed softly.

Though she sighed outwardly, warmth surged in her heart. As an orphan who had spent so many years as a lab rat in research facilities, though she, Jun Ke, Taishi Lan, and Wen Zhen had different personalities, deep down they all extremely craved and were sensitive to affection and warmth.

She could naturally feel such care, so she obediently sat in place, though her expression was anxious and she kept turning to look toward the roadside.

After hurriedly finishing her tea without even eating the sugar, she urgently urged everyone to get up and prepare to enter the city. The Seven Kills rarely saw her in such an agitated state and deliberately dawdled, each getting kicked by her before slowly getting up.

Just as they were about to settle the bill, another urgent clatter of hooves sounded on the road. Jing Hengbo’s expression changed. She rushed out to look—the direction was wrong. It was coming from their route toward Luoyun City, and it wasn’t one horse but a group, a large group of riders galloping wildly like a sudden storm, raising vast clouds of dust on the yellow earth official road. Their momentum and speed were even more fierce than the black-horse woman earlier, but this group’s horsemanship couldn’t compare to that black-horse woman at all. Along the way, pedestrians were knocked down one after another.

This group also arrived swiftly, reaching the tea house’s side in an instant. From afar they heard the leader loudly asking the owner: “Innkeeper! Did a black-clad woman on a black horse just pass by? Excellent horsemanship, skilled with a whip?”

The tea house owner shouted back: “Yes, just went by!”

The group gave cold laughs and rode even faster. A passerby couldn’t dodge in time and was knocked into the tea house, crashing into a pile of tables and chairs. The group didn’t even glance and were about to leave.

Suddenly someone laughed: “Oh my, you knocked over my tea. Pay up.”

With that word “Pay,” the group was about to ignore it and continue forward when suddenly there were a bunch of people in front of them, laughing and playing around. Suddenly they and their companions were all thrown from their horses. Amid continuous banging sounds, over ten riders fell heavily to the ground, eating mouthfuls of yellow mud.

The leader lay on the ground for quite a while before coming to his senses. He struggled to lift his head but couldn’t see who the road bandits were—only saw a big foot on his back. Unable to help himself, he angrily shouted: “Who dares! You’ve eaten leopard guts! How dare you block our way! Quickly remove your foot or you’ll die without a complete corpse…”

A mud-covered foot suddenly kicked into his mouth, sending his threatening words along with two teeth into his stomach.

Silence fell around them. No one cursed anymore. Other passersby all scattered, looking at the riders’ clothing and mounts with frightened expressions. The tea house owner had long since vanished.

In the silence, on the yellow earth official road, light red dress hem moved gracefully, appearing before the group of disheveled riders.

Jing Hengbo leaned down, smiling as she looked at the lead rider under Yi Qi’s foot. Seeing these people’s uniform clothing, fierce expressions, and branded horses, they should belong to Luoyun tribe’s court, and their master should have a high position.

“Hey, who are you chasing, everyone?”

The man who had lost two teeth struggled to lift his head, seeing the brightly smiling woman before him. “Ptui.” He spat out a mouthful of blood and broken teeth, hissing: “Someone about to die—why should grandfather answer you? Don’t you see our banner markings!”

Jing Hengbo looked at the small flags on the horse heads—purple background with white clouds floating, trimmed with gold edge. She raised her eyebrows, looking questioningly toward the Seven Kills, who all shook their heads.

The group sneered even more coldly, all wearing “wait to die” expressions.

A moment later, the Seven Kills brought over the tea house owner, who said tremblingly: “Miss, you’ve caused great trouble. This purple cloud with gold edge flag is the marking of our Luoyun royal family…”

Jing Hengbo smiled when she heard “royal family.”

Why did she always end up provoking royal families wherever she went?

But this time she really had provoked them first. After hearing these people seemed to be pursuing that black-clad woman, she decided that no matter who the pursuers were, she would definitely meddle.

That black-clad woman…

That stunning glimpse, that shocking moment—she had to pursue it to the end.

“Oh? Royal family?” She lazily kicked the leader’s chin. “Who is the royal family pursuing?”

The man stared at her in shock—he had expected to see震撼惊惧expressions.

“Want to lose all your teeth?” Jing Hengbo said with a grin. “There’s no one here who can fit dentures, you know.”

Sometimes smiles were more intimidating than cold faces. At this moment, Jing Hengbo’s smile looked unfathomable to the other party. Now knowing that revealing identity wouldn’t scare her to death, he could only restrain his arrogance somewhat, gritting his teeth: “We’re following the prince’s orders to pursue a fleeing consort who dared violate royal commands and destroy an important marriage alliance between two tribes.”

“Fleeing consort? Who? That black-clad woman with excellent horsemanship who just passed by?”

“Yes.” The man sneered. “However, she should soon become a fugitive. We’ve already sent people on fast horses to urgently report to the great king and prince in the capital. They should arrive soon.” After speaking, he glanced sideways at Jing Hengbo, meaning she should be sensible and release them quickly.

Jing Hengbo acted as if she completely didn’t understand, still crouching before him asking with great interest: “How did she become a fleeing consort being pursued by you?”

The other party had no choice but to say resentfully: “As the consort personally selected by our great king for the Floating Water tribe’s second prince, while being escorted to Floating Water for marriage, she dared suddenly change her mind, injure the guards, steal a horse and escape the wedding procession. Along the way she broke through checkpoints and killed thirteen checkpoint guards, racing back toward the capital as if intending harm to our great king… If this isn’t a fleeing consort and fugitive, what is?” After finishing, he glared with raised eyebrows: “Stop babbling and quickly apologize and release us—you might still be spared. Otherwise, if you delay matters and this fierce woman really breaks into the capital and harms the great king, a hundred deaths couldn’t atone for your crime!”

“Strange and peculiar,” Jing Hengbo still seemed not to have heard his threats, frowning: “From your tone, the wedding procession had already traveled for some time, and this woman has high martial arts. Initially she must have been willing to go with you out of her own tribe. Why would she suddenly change her mind and not hesitate to break out of camp and kill people to escape? After escaping, instead of hiding in the wilderness to seek freedom, she’s throwing herself into a trap by rushing toward the capital—isn’t this seeking death? How could a normal person do such a thing?”

The other party suddenly choked up and looked away.

Seeing that expression, Jing Hengbo knew she had asked the key question.

She straightened up, squinting at the rolling dust ahead. This meddling affair, though mysterious, shouldn’t and wasn’t convenient for her to manage given her status. But at this moment, because of that stunning glimpse, because of that momentary profile, because of that incredibly familiar feeling that shocked her heart, she decided this matter—she would definitely manage it.

Because that audacious, decisive fleeing consort’s style of action was also shockingly familiar…

From the capital direction, urgent hoofbeats suddenly sounded again. This stretch of hoofbeats was fierce and vast, raising large clouds of dust from afar.

Anyone could see—the main force had arrived.

The riders in the mud showed expressions of wild joy at being rescued. The leader shouted loudly: “Release us immediately, throw down your weapons and kneel for mercy—you might still be spared…”

Before he finished speaking, banners fluttered ahead, spear points gleamed, and a cavalry unit galloped forward. Under the leading purple cloud gold-edge banner, someone said in a deep voice: “Who dares block my imperial army! Do they truly not know Luoyun’s military might! Tiger Hornless Dragon Army, capture them!”