The white shadow leaped down through the exploded hole in the city wall. Xu Pingran still stood there holding the imperial seal in a slight daze. Before she could think clearly, someone below the city wall shouted loudly: “His Majesty abdicates the throne to the descendants of the original founding Empress of the Xu clan. Why don’t you all pay your respects?”

Xu Pingran heard this voice coming from within the exploded hole and hurriedly rushed to the city wall’s edge. Through the smoke and dust, she only saw several riders galloping away rapidly, their clattering hoofbeats disappearing around street corners in an instant.

She turned back around. The officers and soldiers on the city wall still wore bewildered expressions. With sudden changes and dramatic reversals, how could ordinary soldiers understand such complex imperial power? They all stared at the imperial seal in her hand, standing there stupidly, not understanding how a perfectly fine emperor had suddenly been replaced by an unfamiliar woman.

Xu Pingran was preoccupied with the later “Gong Yin” and rushed into the exploded wall hole to search, but where was any trace of that white-clothed man?

She stood in place thinking about the one who had appeared later. That move of Prajna Snow was also quite convincing, but that strange feeling…

When she rushed down through the exploded hole in the city wall, Jing Hengbo also followed and leaped over. When the second white shadow emerged, through the snow, mist, and dust, she couldn’t see clearly at all, but that figure and martial arts were unmistakably Gong Yin’s. At this moment, she couldn’t help but feel desperately anxious.

She naturally knew Zou Zheng was fake. She had begun suspecting from the moment she saw the imperial edict, or perhaps even earlier, when Zirui’s behavior seemed wrong. Upon receiving the edict, her first reaction was that Gong Yin was being coerced. However, after reading the edict back and forth several times, she felt something was wrong. If Gong Yin truly had difficulties, he would certainly give her hints elsewhere. Now there wasn’t a single hint, so the person issuing the edict was wrong!

Mobilizing troops and horses, racing back a thousand li with great fanfare, claiming to seek revenge—in reality, she was desperately anxious, wanting to return to verify Gong Yin’s situation.

The moment she saw Zou Zheng, she breathed a long sigh of relief—it wasn’t Gong Yin.

But immediately after, fury ignited in her heart—such a monumental matter, this Dahuang empire, this struggle for imperial power, he Gong Yin had said he’d give it up and gave it up, said he’d hide and hid, said he’d leave and left. Just like before, without informing, without regard, without seeking her opinion, he made such decisive and ruthless decisions, tricking her into racing back a thousand li, then tossing this Dige into her hands, and the matter would be finished?

Didn’t he know that she had returned not for Dige, but for him?

When would he be willing to openly, thoroughly, do everything together with her?

That question asked to the fake Gong Yin below the city—”Why do you treat me thus?”—was naturally meant for the real one.

Why do you treat me thus?

Why always silently arrange and circle everything in the darkness, paving the path beneath my feet with blood and life, leading me step by step without room for discussion, then at the path’s end, choosing to disappear or let go, forever leaving me a retreating figure?

He would willingly lay his corpse as a foundation on her path to imperial power, but she would only want to sleep together with him in an ordinary grave!

A chest full of questions, a belly full of depression—under these three flags atop Dige city, who would answer her?

She rushed over, recklessly following Xu Pingran down the hole. Yelu Qi reached out to grab her, his fingers brushing her sleeve.

She leaped into the hole. The dust hadn’t settled, her nose full of gunpowder smell, broken bricks still falling from above with rustling sounds, but she could see at a glance that the white-clothed man had already vanished.

She immediately understood the true feeling of “heart growing cold”—like her heart was suddenly lifted up and smashed into ice water, from hot to extremely cold, suffocating in an instant.

That second Gong Yin was either fake, or he was unwilling to see her again!

And at this moment, she had attacked Dige, ostensibly charging straight for imperial power. His absence now was equivalent to handing over the empire, letting her seize his throne.

What did this mean again?

Am I, Jing Hengbo, just an ambitious schemer who only loves power in your eyes?

The dust was choking, the temperature cold. She was coughing, tears welling in her eyes.

Then she felt that cold was somewhat wrong. That icy energy should have already dissipated, but at this moment she felt increasingly cold.

The white-clothed woman ahead stood quietly on the ruins, her back to her, motionless.

She was no longer the naive rookie from before. The moment she sensed the opponent’s killing intent penetrating her body, she immediately tried to dodge.

But she couldn’t move.

Somehow, a layer of ice had formed on the ground, slightly red in color, as if congealed with unclean blood. Her boots were firmly stuck to the ground. Indescribable strange cold drilled up from her feet like inverted ice swords, causing excruciating pain in her knees instantly.

This cold was even colder than Prajna Snow, with an additional poisonous quality, just like the icy chill she had once sucked out for Gong Yin. Back then, just a little entering her body had tormented her with a serious illness.

The woman with her back turned suddenly said eerily: “Jing Hengbo?”

She chuckled and said: “Who are you?”

While leisurely responding, she suddenly flipped over, escaping wearing only socks, leaving her boots in place.

Her body in mid-air, she touched the wall with her toe tip, about to use this solid point to instantly teleport.

However, with a crash, that wall suddenly became covered with red ice, darkly flickering with bloody light in the darkness.

How could she dare let her sock-clad feet touch such ice? She would immediately stick to it and be poisoned.

Her body had to descend, aiming for an ice-free ruins area below.

Her toe tips were just millimeters away when countless pale red ice spikes suddenly shot up from the rubble and stone ruins. If she landed, she would be skewered like a hedgehog.

She had to dodge again. She couldn’t teleport in mid-air without touching something solid. Looking up, she saw half an iron chain hanging down from the hole above.

She reached to grab the chain. Just as she grasped it, she heard fine “crack crack” sounds. Looking, pale red ice crystals were racing down like lightning snakes, about to reach her fingers.

Below in the wall hole, crack crack sounds echoed continuously. On the ground and walls, like growing branches and sprouting buds, countless crisscrossing ice spikes and ice swords extended, instantly penetrating the entire wall hole.

If she didn’t let go, she’d be injured by the ice crystals. If she let go, she’d fall onto the sharp upward-pointing ice spike pile.

A fierce tiger above, poisonous snakes below.

She gritted her teeth, drew a dagger from her waist with one hand, then let go.

She wanted to try destroying the ice spikes in the instant of falling, then flash out.

Her body fell.

Suddenly she heard a cold laugh from the dark depths.

Her heart went cold.

Then she saw the crisscrossing ice spikes below disappear in a blink, converging into a round piece, like a bathtub, positioned right under her.

Her heart instantly sank to the bottom.

One sword could destroy countless ice spikes, but how could she dig out a round bathtub?

The key was this woman’s ability to manipulate ice and snow with her vital energy was, in her perception, no less than Gong Yin’s, perhaps even more skilled. Once she fell into this “bathtub,” the next instant she might be wrapped like dumpling filling.

Everything happened in an instant—her body falling, her heart also falling.

Suddenly her wrist tightened and her body stopped.

Looking up, she saw Yelu Qi’s slightly anxious face.

In the sunlight, that face had clear contours but blurred features, only the faint smile at the corner of his lips remained, making her heart settle. But his hand wasn’t stable—his other arm kept swinging as countless soldiers behind him were attacking him.

She had used the grass person to injure someone and attract attention on the city, taking the opportunity to have a fake queen ride the hanging basket up the city while she had already teleported against the city wall when everyone was watching the grass person kill. She had come up the city alone only to seek the truth about whether Gong Yin was real or fake. Afterward, Yelu Qi had borrowed the momentum to ascend the city. Now only the two of them were atop the city walls—the others hadn’t yet managed to cross the moat.

With enemies throughout the city, her fall was actually just an instant, yet while dealing with enemies throughout the city, he still remembered to rush over and save her.

Yelu Qi smiled at her slightly, reaching out to pull her up, but Jing Hengbo’s heart felt an alarm as she urgently called: “Be careful!”

Before her voice fell, with a thunderous crash, the hole in the ground suddenly collapsed another section!

Yelu Qi and she fell down again!

He reacted extremely quickly. Just as they fell, he reached out to catch Jing Hengbo with one hand while his other hand grabbed something unknown and smashed it down forcefully. With a crash, ice crystals and black dust scattered everywhere. That thick “bathtub” had already been smashed to pieces.

The next instant he landed on the ground. Before he could stand steady, the sword in his hand already shot straight toward Xu Pingran, who was slowly turning around ahead.

Jing Hengbo also raised her hand, and a black object whistled upward, charging forward and smashing everything in its path, shattering ice crystals and breaking ice swords along the way. It was a charcoal brazier used for heating atop the city. When the city wall ground collapsed earlier, it had rolled out and was just used by Yelu Qi to smash the ice bathtub. Now Jing Hengbo manipulated it to smash ice spikes and Xu Pingran.

Crackling sounds continued endlessly. In the dark space with half sunlight, half bright and half dark, pale red ice spikes continuously shattered. Countless cross-sections flickered with seven-colored glazed light in the pale golden sunlight—beautiful to the point of magnificence.

And the white-clothed Xu Pingran over there remained cold and secluded, raising her hand slightly.

Jing Hengbo suddenly heard that “crack crack” sound again. Looking down, somehow another layer of pale red ice crystals had appeared, spreading beneath their feet.

On the opposite side, Xu Pingran waved her sleeve. An ice wall suddenly rose before her. With a crack, Yelu Qi’s sword and Jing Hengbo’s brazier were embedded alive in the ice wall.

She acted without any trace of worldly concern, not even changing expression. Because of this, it made one feel her arrogant contempt for all under heaven.

Jing Hengbo was clear in her heart—this person before them was truly formidable, presumably a top-level figure from the Nine Heavenly Gates. She had originally thought that she and Yelu Qi working together might have hope of stopping her, but now it seemed preserving their lives was more important.

Above their heads came more cracking sounds. The sunlight became pale red as a layer of ice crystals formed at the hole opening—the exit was about to be sealed.

She reached out to grab Yelu Qi, preparing to teleport away with him, but Yelu Qi had already grabbed her hand first. With a swing of his arm, she was flipped onto Yelu Qi’s back.

“Step on my back and get out!”

Looking down, she was horrified to see that somehow, those pale red ice crystals had already covered everything below Yelu Qi’s knees.

“Yelu!”

“Go!”

“No!” She tried to flip down from his back.

Yelu Qi suddenly reached out and grabbed a shard of broken ice, gripping it tightly—

“Don’t!” Jing Hengbo cried out.

For poisonous things, there was a big difference between seeing blood and not seeing blood. Being invaded by cold air was still a small matter now, but once wounds appeared on the body, it might attack the heart.

“Go!”

“I can take you with me, don’t be stubborn!”

“No one is her match. She’s already seized the throne and will definitely block your army. If you don’t get out and quickly attack the city, do you want your Horizontal Halberd Army that came a thousand li to fight, to die thousands upon thousands in her hands?”

“You come out with me!”

“She won’t let us both leave. Only you can go. You get out, I’ll hold her back! Otherwise, once she breaks free, corpses will pile up like mountains!”

“Yelu!”

“Jing Hengbo, this isn’t making you flee for your life—this is making you save lives! One person’s life versus ten thousand lives—which is heavier?”

“Equally important!”

At the dark end, Xu Pingran smiled coldly and faintly, not stopping their conversation, even retaining a trace of interested amusement at her lip corners.

Look, this was human warmth, human emotion.

Full of sacrifice and helplessness, dedication and fulfillment—truly moving, but who knew if after today’s touching moments, they might see tomorrow’s rising sun?

How could lives have no distinction? White clothes and nobility, rough men and kings, people standing in high places and low places—the responsibilities they bore were inherently different. Speaking lightly of sacrifice, how could one step by step ascend to the clouds?

She flicked her finger, and the ice spikes before her shattered into dust, her expression slightly disgusted.

She was disgusted by such passion and emotion. She was disgusted by all warm and bright things in this world. Those things made people weak and indulgent, content to lie dormant instead of rising up. Those warm things made hearts softer, and then would shed hotter blood—one’s own blood.

Ice cold cracked and shattered, the past crumbled at a finger’s flick. Cold killing intent surged in her heart—she would also annihilate this pair of men and women, especially this hypocritical man who wanted to sacrifice himself.

She slowly walked forward. Wherever she passed, ice spikes flew like ice flowers.

Above, the pale red ice crystals at the hole opening were slowly closing, leaving only a head-sized gap. Yelu Qi could no longer get out—only Jing Hengbo could.

Yelu Qi suddenly reached out and pressed a finger against the sole of Jing Hengbo’s foot. His strike wasn’t light—Jing Hengbo cried “Ouch!” as her body shot upward.

By bodily reflex, the next instant she appeared outside the hole, atop the city wall.

As soon as she reached the city wall, soldiers swarmed toward her from all directions. Zou Zheng hid behind the battlements, loudly commanding soldiers to capture the Queen immediately.

Jing Hengbo’s figure flashed repeatedly, passing through the rushing crowd. At a glance, she saw Pei Shu frantically attacking the city below, with black masses of soldiers rushing forward like a tide. The captured beast-men and grass people she had brought were forcing their way across the moat. Those robust bodies and slippery scales gleamed with blood, sweat, and oil in the sunlight, while the seized ballista carts were firing stones frantically at the city gates. Thunderous sounds continuously came from below the city as dust clouds soared into the sky.

Wind whistled down overhead. She leaned back and slid, her body sliding across the ice surface, then suddenly flipped and touched the hole from before. Now the entire hole was thickly sealed with pale red ice crystals. Through that transparent hole cover, she saw ice spikes growing again below, branches extending in all directions, filling the entire hole completely—she could no longer flash back inside.

She saw at both ends inside the hole: the white-clothed Xu Pingran with her robes trailing on the ground, her face cold with killing intent, walking toward Yelu Qi who knelt half-collapsed on the ground.