It wasn’t surprising that the Ghost-faced Nest Spider could speak. Before they reach adulthood, young spiders maintain a spiritual connection with their mother spider—whatever the young spiders hear, the mother spider can know. Ghost-faced Nest Spiders can mimic the vibration waves of other creatures to attract prey, including imitating sounds.
What made Feng Miaojun curious was how he had managed to infiltrate Mo Tizhun’s barrier with the spider.
“The upper rooms of this inn have mostly been booked by the Langyu Kingdom delegation, with only three rooms rented to outside guests,” Yun Ya watched as she skillfully boiled water and brewed tea. “Placing young Ghost-faced spiders in those three rooms was no difficult matter.”
In other words, before Mo Tizhun returned to his room and set up the barrier, the baby Ghost-faced spiders had already positioned themselves in the corners of the guest room. They were as tiny as ants; even Mo Tizhun wouldn’t notice something as minute as a speck of moss. Of course, from the time he left until his return, there was only a short gap of less than ten breaths, and even Yun Ya couldn’t move that quickly.
The only explanation was that he had already planted baby Ghost-faced spiders in other guest rooms earlier, to monitor every movement in the entire inn.
Yun Ya’s depth and caution were evident. Realizing that she too was being monitored invisibly, Feng Miaojun felt a chill down her spine.
From her analysis, this man’s desire to control his environment was the strongest she had ever seen in her life.
That is to say, Yun Ya liked to firmly control everything around him, including her.
This wasn’t a good habit.
The next day, Yun Ya again slept until the sun was high before rising. If Feng Miaojun hadn’t witnessed Yun Ya’s methods the day before, she would truly have thought he didn’t care about those two at all.
Now she understood—everyone was heading to Jin’s capital anyway, so what difference did it make whether they left earlier or later?
She had to explain to the other members of the Langyu Kingdom delegation that her master was feeling slightly under the weather, which was why he had risen late.
“So careless, too careless!” she lamented with distress. “If this continues, you’re bound to reveal your true identity!” Chi Zhe was someone who served beside the King, and must be strictly self-disciplined—how could he possibly indulge in sleeping late so comfortably?
“What use is self-discipline?” Yun Ya’s voice, tinged with sleepiness, was particularly magnetic. “Isn’t it still a life of serving others?”
“…” Why did she feel like she’d just taken an arrow to the knee?
Feng Miaojun sighed, resignedly serving him as he washed up, then fetched some honey paste which she gave him to take with warm water.
The water temperature had to be neither hot nor cold, but just right.
After drinking this, he seemed a little more energetic and finally decided to open his eyes. “Have those two left?”
“They’re about to settle the bill and leave the inn.” Without his instructions, she would naturally keep track of Mo Tizhun and his companion’s whereabouts. Earlier when she went downstairs, she had seen Princess Hanyue coming out of her room with swollen red eyes, obviously having cried all night. Though she used a shape-shifting parasite to change her appearance, her expressions and complexion still showed through—this was where shape-shifting parasites were superior to disguise techniques.
Feng Miaojun felt troubled inside. She had been friends with Princess Hanyue for three years and knew that at her core, the princess was just a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, yet she had to marry into a foreign land, forever parting from her family.
If she could complete the wedding ceremony peacefully without incident, she would resign herself to fate; but the eruption of the Cliff Mountain volcano had shown her a glimmer of hope to return to Great Jin.
Looking back, that faint light had been extinguished by the hand of the father she loved most.
Feng Miaojun pitied her but knew she couldn’t help.
What the Jin King couldn’t accomplish, how could she?
Princess Hanyue passed her without a second glance, too preoccupied with her troubles to realize that her once-good friend had now become a stranger.
But Feng Miaojun knew.
Yun Ya, seeing her standing in a daze, gave her a light flick on the forehead: “Didn’t sleep enough?” He pointed to his bed, his eyes concealing amusement. “Want to curl up there for a while?”
“N-no need.” She came back to her senses and quickly refused. Having just fetched his clothes, she knew the bedding still retained its warmth.
His body temperature had always been higher than normal people’s.
“Let’s go.” Yun Ya stretched lazily. “We should get on the road too, don’t delay.”
She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Who was causing the delay? Didn’t he have any self-awareness? It was almost dark!
From here to Yao’s capital, there was one long, straight official road. More and more groups converged onto this main route, clearly sharing the same destination.
The journey was peaceful and uneventful. With the wedding day approaching and so many groups hurrying to enter the capital, no bandits would dare to block the road.
Feng Miaojun had seen Princess Hanyue twice more, both just fleeting glimpses, but she appeared much more emotionally stable, albeit with a slight sadness on her face.
This was certainly not a coincidental “encounter,” but rather Yun Ya deliberately arranged for the Langyu Kingdom delegation to trail close behind.
Foreign diplomatic envoys were numerous on the official road, all heading in the same direction, so what was strange about occasionally crossing paths? Even the Langyu Kingdom delegation itself had encountered several other small country delegations multiple times; they would gather to drink and chat, quite harmoniously.
On this diplomatic mission to the Yao Kingdom, everyone was only coming to attend the ceremony without any thorny tasks, so the mood was relatively relaxed.
Yun Ya had imitated Chi Zhe’s mannerisms with about eighty percent accuracy, enough to deceive everyone. Feng Miaojun didn’t understand his intentions and failed several times when trying to probe indirectly.
Looking at the malicious gleam in Yun Ya’s eyes, she understood she couldn’t ask any more questions and could only proceed with her mind full of doubts.
Today, everyone passed through Qingyuan Town; another day’s journey northwest would bring them to Yao’s capital.
With limited guest rooms in the small town, several groups simply found an open space by Qingyuan Lake to set up camp. They only needed to take out their magical artifacts—wind-fixing discs—and bury them around the campsite to adjust the temperature in this area, making it as warm as spring and keeping the cold outside.
Under Yun Ya’s leadership, the Langyu Kingdom delegation joined them.
Feng Miaojun liked this place very much. Qingyuan Lake was less a lake and more like a series of connected sandbars. Now the slow-flowing lake water had frozen, and as far as the eye could see, the lake and sky were one color. The sand here was fine and pure white; in spring and summer, paired with green trees, blue sky, and emerald water, it must be incredibly beautiful. It was said that the royal palace in Yao’s capital specifically required Qingyuan Lake sand for landscaping, demonstrating its high quality.
Bonfires were set up on the sandy beach, and everyone sat on the ground, talking about everything under the sun.
The reason the Langyu Kingdom delegation also joined in was because Princess Hanyue was here. After receiving news from the Jin King, Mo Tizhun had put away the shape-shifting parasite, so both he and the princess had resumed their original appearances, though no one here recognized them.
Even so, Mo Tizhun’s unusual appearance and Princess Hanyue’s peerless beauty drew frequent glances from others. As long as Princess Hanyue obediently proceeded to Yao’s capital, Mo Tizhun had no objection to her coming to the lakeshore to clear her mind.
Feng Miaojun stood half a step behind Yun Ya, her gaze sweeping across several times, always seeing Princess Hanyue staring blankly at the flames, lost in thought about who knows what, her slender figure appearing even more desolate in the firelight.