At this critical moment, the elderly Minister Xing entered the palace overnight to seek an audience with the Emperor. Besides two letters, he also brought a person to the Yan King.

A dark-skinned, simple, and honest-looking countryman.

His face flushed red as he stammered before the Yan King: “I-I am Liu Dali.”

The Yan King looked at him with an expressionless face.

The two letters that Minister Xing delivered both bore the signature of the Queen of New Xia. However, one was written to Minister Xing, while the other requested Minister Xing to forward it to the Yan King.

With both letters placed side by side, the Yan King first opened the one addressed to him. He saw only a few lines: “High masters move freely, entering Songlanzhai as if reaching into a bag. Princess Changle is anxious and fearful and has departed northward first. I hope the Yan King will be magnanimous and pray that New Xia and Great Yan maintain good relations for hundreds of generations.”

The subtle sarcasm in these words made the Yan King narrow his eyes slightly. Princess Changle’s message was straightforward—people dared to infiltrate her residence at will, her safety was not guaranteed, so she had to quickly leave the Yan capital and return to New Xia.

This was Taiping City!

Right under the Yan King’s nose, the residence of the Queen of New Xia had been infiltrated, with people abducted and fires set! This truly slapped his face with resounding blows.

Suddenly, a chilling air permeated Jingxin Hall. Despite his cultivation, Minister Xing couldn’t help but rub his arms.

The Yan King proceeded to read the second letter.

This was written by the Queen of New Xia to Minister Xing, describing how she had rescued a boatload of commoners on the Qinghe River, with particular emphasis on Liu Dali’s story.

So this was the target of those black-clothed men, the “important figure” they were willing to damage diplomatic relations to kill by infiltrating Songlanzhai Manor.

Just a mere commoner from the countryside, yet he had thrown tonight’s Taiping City into utter chaos!

Liu Dali was quick-witted at this moment and presented his oil-paper package.

With his immensely powerful divine sense, the Yan King scanned through it, reading all the contents of the hundred-page petition in one glance.

To him, these were naturally all trivial matters. But why were people desperately trying to prevent Liu Dali from submitting this petition, even risking infiltration of the New Xia Queen’s residence?

The Yan King’s orders were concise:

“Investigate! Get to the bottom of this matter for me!”

Minister Xing, standing respectfully at the side, wore a face full of righteous indignation: “The vermin of the state should be captured and executed to set things right!”

The Yan King glanced at him, his gaze profound.

Minister Xing should be the happiest one at this moment. Hmph, he didn’t mind being used as a pawn by a young girl who still smelled of milk.

He knew full well that both the mastermind behind this affair and himself had been set up by the Queen of New Xia and Fu Lingchuan. He possessed many tracking secret techniques, but they required the subject’s personal effects to work, such as hair, nails, or blood. These two had set fire to their bedroom, leaving nothing behind, thus eliminating any possibility of being tracked.

Planning so thoroughly, they must have prepared their escape plan long ago, right?

“Go summon Yun to me. He’s also involved in this; I want to see what he has to say,” the Yan King snorted. “Additionally, under the pretext of the New Xia Queen being attacked and Taiping City searching for accomplices, seal the entire city!”

If the Queen of New Xia wanted to leave openly and righteously, he naturally couldn’t stop her. But if she tried to sneak out like this, he could use the excuse of catching criminals to lock down the city!

Picking up her letter, the Yan King, who had understood the cause and effect, found the words “high masters” particularly eye-catching.

High? Hmph!

In the west of the city, deep within Danshui Lane.

This was just a single-story house with a somewhat leaky roof, and the courtyard was so small it could only accommodate two large vats.

Being too far from the north of the city, one could neither hear nor see the fire at Songlanzhai Manor from here. The commoners here would only hear bits of distorted news from neighbors the next morning or the day after.

The kitchen was so small one could barely turn around, but Feng Miaojun still boiled two bowls of noodles and placed them on the wooden table in the hall:

“Here, a midnight snack.”

Ordinary noodles topped with ham and Chinese cabbage, sprinkled with a few scallions, yet extraordinarily fragrant. Fu Lingchuan smiled: “What merit have I to taste food personally cooked by a sovereign?” Yet his hands were not polite, grabbing the bamboo chopsticks and slurping up the noodles.

Hmm, not only were they chewy and springy, but the broth was also flavorful—certainly not just boiled water.

He asked curiously: “Where did this broth come from?”

This place was one of his outposts, used for responding to unexpected events. Usually, an embroidery woman lived here, and Feng Miaojun was now appearing with her appearance. But not much food was stored here to avoid raising suspicion.

“I specially brought it from Songlanzhai Manor,” she stroked the storage ring on her hand. “Doesn’t it taste especially rich and flavorful at this moment?”

Fu Lingchuan conceded: “You’re impressive.”

This girl had set fire to her residence. When others fled from disaster, they would take gold and silver, but she had brought a pot of rich broth!

Feng Miaojun seemed to see through his thoughts, shrugging: “I also salvaged many good things from the kitchen, like a large bowl of spicy marinade. It would be such a waste if all these were burned.”

Fu Lingchuan chuckled: “If you hadn’t burned down Songlanzhai Manor, it would still be worth eight thousand taels of silver.” To remember to bring such trivial items before escaping, her heart wasn’t just big—it was enormous.

With such unwavering determination, no wonder her cultivation was rapidly advancing. In this world, cultivators were rare, and those with hearts as firm as rock even rarer. Come to think of it, he still hadn’t found out where she had learned all these divine abilities.

“Isn’t it worth spending less than ten thousand taels of silver to divert the Yan King’s attention?”

“Worth it, extremely worth it!” Fu Lingchuan sighed. Feng Miaojun had employed an open strategy; the Yan King would certainly understand her intention after receiving the two letters. But so what?

With the matter escalated to such proportions and involving the Queen of New Xia, how could he not investigate thoroughly?

Thus, Liu Dali’s matter would inevitably be brought to light. They say pulling out a radish brings up soil, but digging deeper along this clue would bring up more than just soil—it was the roots of a thousand-year-old banyan tree, numerous and dense, thick and long, woven into an endless great net.

The Queen of New Xia had fled, and the Yan King couldn’t catch her to force her to marry his son. He was a sovereign, not a bandit, though the two did indeed share some similarities in certain aspects.

But in handling Liu Dali’s case, he had absolute authority to hold people accountable.

When Fu Lingchuan praised her as “impressive,” he had another meaning:

Their original plan to sneak out of Taiping City, though reluctantly adopted, would nonetheless damage the Queen of New Xia’s reputation. Now, with Yan people infiltrating Songlanzhai Manor to kill and set fires, they had provided the New Xia Queen with a dignified reason to leave. It could be attributed to Taiping City’s poor security and the Yan people’s inadequate protection of foreign guests.

Between nations, what they contend for is nothing but reason. At least in this game, as long as Feng Miaojun could leave safely in the end, New Xia would not lose face.