While everyone was listing several possible locations and discussing them, Feng Miao Jun spoke leisurely: “This King is magnanimous. Let the Wei envoy stay in the palace.”
Everyone fell silent at once, agreeing it was a good solution. Ordinary New Xia citizens couldn’t enter the royal palace, which would also ensure Xu Guangxiang’s safety.
After the Yao-Wei war, every country was extremely concerned about the safety of foreign envoys to avoid repeating that disaster.
But Feng Miao Jun had her thoughts. Could Yun Ya be hiding among the Wei envoy’s entourage? If so, this would allow her to monitor all the Wei people at once.
Wei had sent Xu Guangxiang as their envoy this time—a princess and female general of the current dynasty—showing sincerity. The last envoy sent to Yao’s capital had been a minor official, sacrificed in minutes as an excuse for Wei to launch its invasion. Now Wei had sent her a proper princess with actual military authority; surely they wouldn’t use her as cannon fodder too?
Just as this matter was settled, the Military Intelligence Department rushed in with a report:
The Kingdom of Puling, which bordered New Xia’s southwestern frontier, had brazenly dispatched troops and occupied three cities overnight!
New Xia had established military garrisons at the border, but General Wang Min’s forces were intercepted and defeated, resulting in them being trapped in Suya City. The Puling forces advanced continuously as if entering undefended territory, and had already captured two prefectures by the time the message was sent.
The court discussion immediately became heated, with everyone seemingly charged with excitement. Finally, Fu Ling Chuan decided to mobilize nearby troops for support. This would require the power of local noble families, and some officials took the opportunity to propose again that the Queen return to Lubo City to govern. They argued that the royal court was too far from the central region, allowing the southwestern bandit nation to exploit. If the Queen returned to Lubo City to preside, they insisted, no petty adversaries would dare to invade, and so on.
Fu Ling Chuan rejected the proposal on the spot. The court engaged in verbal sparring, back and forth…
In the end, the court meeting took an extra hour or two to conclude compared to usual.
During their shared lunch, Feng Miao Jun asked Fu Ling Chuan: “Is that battle in the southwest difficult to fight?”
“Not very easy,” Fu Ling Chuan picked up a piece of braised mutton. “Although Puling is called a ‘kingdom,’ it’s a union of more than ten tribes active in the Kazhe Desert in the southwest. That’s the central position of the Northern Continent, with perpetual drought. Forget crops—even trees and weeds can’t survive there.”
“What’s Puling’s economic source?”
“Part merchant, part bandit—they engage in any profitable business. This country’s character resembles that of ruffians and scoundrels.” Fu Ling Chuan shook his head. “The month after An Xia fell, Puling sensed an opportunity and sent troops to occupy several cities, but they were driven back by Wei. When Crown Prince Xiao Jing governed the An Xia region, he also repelled the Puling people several times.”
“Now that New Xia has been established, Puling probably thinks our national defense is weak and our military not yet fully prepared, so they want to try again.” He continued without looking up. “Suya City and these areas connect the inland and outer prefectures, with roads leading in all directions. If the Puling people could occupy them, they could collect substantial tolls.”
Having such evil neighbors was indeed troublesome. “I fear driving them back would be futile,” she rested her chin on her hand. “Puling has neither usable land nor decent cities—even if we occupied their territory, it would serve little purpose.” The entire Puling nation lived by banditry, coming and going like the wind. For New Xia to eliminate them would require enormous effort, and even then, Puling’s land couldn’t grow food to support people. Occupying it would be pointless and would waste administrative resources.
Wasn’t it for similar reasons that Wei had been reluctant to interfere with New Xia’s establishment?
“Puling has several consistently victorious generals who are difficult to deal with, and they’ve all been deployed this time. They truly intend to take advantage of the royal court and sovereign being away from the western region to forcibly occupy cities, preferably permanently.” Fu Ling Chuan said in a low voice, “What I’m concerned about is collusion with the southern noble families. If this border threat isn’t eliminated, calls for the sovereign to return to Lubo City will only grow louder.”
Feng Miao Jun was slightly startled: “Is this information reliable?”
“In the past few years, Puling bandits have come and gone like the wind, always withdrawing before pursuit forces could arrive—there must be informants. At that time, we were busy resisting Wei and had little chance to investigate.” Fu Ling Chuan sneered, “This time, we cannot let the moles escape.”
The day was clear, with what could be called a cloudless sky for thousands of miles.
Surrounded by pink hues, Feng Miao Jun stood in a peach grove and saw the moonlight like water, casting a hazy glow around the person beside her, making him appear like a celestial being descended to the mortal realm.
He looked down at her from his height: “Twelve hours without seeing each other—did An’an miss me?”
Feng Miao Jun, no longer panicked as she had been yesterday, smiled gently at him: “What about you?”
In the moonlight, her smile was so exquisitely beautiful that even the nearby peach blossoms lost their color in comparison. Yun Ya was slightly dazed at the sight and unconsciously blurted out: “I did, I missed you terribly.”
For over a year, every time he thought of this escaped wildcat, he had gritted his teeth, not knowing whether he was more angry or more resentful. Yet deep down, he knew that whether anger or resentment, he had kept her in his heart.
He had wandered the world for years, never before so deeply affected by anyone.
The genuine emotion revealed in those peach blossom eyes moved Feng Miao Jun involuntarily. She had to close her eyes to escape the sudden dizziness.
The way he looked at her—wasn’t that cheating?
Yun Ya watched as her delicate little hand reached up, curiously touching his face twice before hooking around his neck and slowly pulling him down.
The little one’s red lips drew closer. Having tasted them yesterday, he knew how sweet they were and couldn’t help but look forward to it again.
But before he could kiss her, he felt something cold against his neck—the touch of a sharp instrument.
Yun Ya froze. From between Feng Miao Jun’s fingers protruded the tip of an awl, pointed directly at his carotid artery.
Her smile had vanished, and her voice turned cold: “Who gave you permission to enter and exit my dreams at will?”
Once she understood how Yun Ya approached her, the mystery surrounding him disappeared. Feng Miao Jun knew that if one was harmed in a dream, they would be weak and listless in reality; if they died in a dream, their consciousness would not return to their physical body, leaving only a soulless shell in the real world. Therefore, Yun Ya in the dream also needed to avoid being harmed.
Yun Ya’s gaze swept over her hand, and he couldn’t help but praise: “Impressive. You’ve mastered the method of exerting force in dreams so quickly.”
The rules of the dream world were completely different from reality. Real-world magical artifacts, spiritual power, and divine abilities couldn’t take effect here. That was why Feng Miao Jun had discovered her dantian completely empty last night—spiritual power was stored in the physical body and couldn’t be brought into dreams.
However, if a dreamer had sufficiently condensed soul power, or a deep enough understanding of dreams and power, they could manifest various divine abilities and magical artifacts here. In short, nothing was impossible—only unimaginable.
Feng Miao Jun had manifested her magical artifact, the Star Sky Awl, which indicated not only that she was aware of her situation but had also adapted very well.