This completely extinguished the last glimmer of hope in her heart, and she resolved to stay ten thousand li away from him from now on.

These people who wielded elemental power and managed State affairs, despite their varied personalities, were all as cold as the heavenly dao toward ordinary people. This observation wasn’t limited to her impression of Yun Ya and Mo Tizhun, but a fact that the vast historical records in Yanhai Tower had reminded her of countless times.

After such a night fraught with hidden killing intent, she thought she would toss and turn, unable to sleep.

However, that wasn’t the case.

Surprisingly, these were the soundest and deepest three hours of sleep she’d had since the journey began, without even a single dream from start to finish.

Perhaps because the lurking crisis that had been present all along was finally over.

The star observer had predicted clear weather for today, so everyone rose earlier than the roosters, began packing up, and set out half an hour later.

Feng Miaojun finished preparing and walked out, only to see two maids standing before a carriage with anxious expressions.

She recognized this carriage and walked over asking, “What’s wrong?”

“Orders to advance have already been given, and we’re confirming that all the nobles have boarded. We’ve checked twice, but the person in this carriage doesn’t answer no matter how we knock,” the maid explained.

Feng Miaojun pointed her lips toward the distance: “Look, isn’t that him coming?”

Indeed, while they were speaking, Tie Xinning was striding toward them. He was still wearing the same cyan robe as last night, though now with many wrinkles, and carried a large wine gourd in his hand.

Feng Miaojun shook her head privately. This senior martial brother had an open, straightforward personality with no particular vices except his fondness for drinking. It seemed he had gone to town to drink himself into a stupor last night, and brought back this large gourd as well.

She was about to greet him but remembered outsiders were present, so she turned and left. Tie Xinning rushed back to the carriage, swept his gaze around, climbed into the carriage, and closed the door with a “bang.”

With his status as the Grand Preceptor’s senior disciple, he needed no explaKingdom from others.

From now on, weather conditions became extremely important because they were heading into the mountains.

It was already late autumn, not the best time to travel through the White Elephant Mountain Range. However, due to the urgency of the alliance between the two countries, and because there were special features deep in the White Elephant Mountains, the wedding escort dared to pass through here.

As they moved deeper into the mountainous region, the forests grew increasingly dense and quiet, until finally there were no signs of human habitation. The surroundings featured only monotonous black and white—it had snowed recently, and the soft accumulated snow could bury a horse’s hooves.

At this point, Molongduo beasts took the lead to clear the path. Their foot pads were very wide and flat. As they passed, the loose snow was swept away, revealing the black rocky ground beneath, allowing horses and mules to walk easily.

These giant beasts weren’t as clumsy as one might imagine. They were born with a talent for “lightness”—air provided them buoyancy similar to water for fish, with a strong lifting effect. Otherwise, such massive flesh-and-blood bodies would place a heavy burden on their four legs when walking, let alone crossing mountains and rivers. Because of this, even if a Molongduo stepped into space, it wouldn’t fall, and could calmly detect broken rocks and pitfalls beneath its feet.

Sitting in the mule-drawn carriage, Feng Miaojun could feel that the entire procession was following mountain paths upward, climbing to increasingly higher altitudes with progressively lower temperatures. Eventually, breaths turned to ice, and the servants around her were frozen with blue faces, constantly rubbing their hands together.

That day, everyone was exhausted after traveling just forty li of mountain road. Before sunset, the commanding officer ordered them to settle in a windproof valley, set up camp, and start cooking. The mountains were different from the outside world—after dark, dangers abounded.

There was no room for reckless advancement. Large military formations were placed around the camp for warning and basic defense. Both visible and hidden sentries were deployed, climbing to nearby mountaintops to keep watch.

People of that time typically ate two meals a day, morning and noon, but during these days noon was spent climbing mountains, so the second meal was usually delayed until evening. Just as everything was settled, Princess Hanyue summoned Feng Miaojun and said: “Tao Zi, from now on you will attend to Master Tie’s needs.”

Indeed, since joining this group, she had been disguised as Tao Zi, a maid in Princess Hanyue’s service, and naturally had to fulfill a maid’s duties. In the Jin palace, maids usually received elegant names, but when Princess Hanyue was still young, Tao Zi and other girls were assigned as her playmates, so the princess named them after fruits on the table—peach, snow pear, plum, and ginkgo.

When Feng Miaojun needed to disguise herself as a maid, she asked Princess Hanyue’s opinion, and the girl stared at her chest with mischievous intent: “You should disguise yourself as Tao Zi. Among my maids, she has the smallest chest.”

Feng Miaojun was furious then, her eyebrows standing on end. Though her looks surpassed the princess’s, her body didn’t begin developing until she was fourteen years and nine months old. While she quickly grew taller, her chest developed slowly, not as abundant as the princesses. She had privately prepared dietary therapy and supplements, but they seemed to have little effect.

Princess Hanyue often made such comparisons, quite pleased with herself.

This time, disguised as a maid, Feng Miaojun was a novelty to Princess Hanyue, who often kept her friend running in circles with tasks. But in the eyes of other servants, she became the princess’s favorite—why else would the princess prefer to command her and no one?

Now that she was assigned to take care of Tie Xinning, it appeared she had fallen out of favor, which relieved many.

Tie Xinning’s tent had already been set up. She called softly from outside, “Master Tie,” and he responded, “Come in.”

There was no one else in the tent. Tie Xinning sat behind a table, reading a book.

She placed the food box on the table, saying: “The Princess has reassigned me to ‘serve’ you from today onward.”

Tie Xinning had a rough, unrestrained personality and disliked having attendants nearby, so he hadn’t requested any maids since their departure. Hearing this, he looked up from his book and glanced at her once, but neither spoke nor objected.

Feng Miaojun took pastries from the food box and placed them before him: “Freshly baked pine cakes. I also brought some maple sugar—the sweet maple sap we collected and boiled a few days ago in the mountains. Would you like to try?” Tie Xinning already could abstain from grains and didn’t need regular meals. What she brought were merely snacks.

He examined the small, steaming cakes before him.

They were just cakes, but each was only as big as her small fist, very thin, baked to a beautiful golden color on both sides, with crisp edges. One didn’t need to lean in to smell the rich milk fragrance.

Cow’s milk. In this freezing weather, such a rare item could only come from the special kitchen set up for the princess.

The food box also contained a small white porcelain jar. She opened it and carefully scooped out the amber-colored honey inside with a silver spoon, gently drizzling it over the cakes. “Ready!”

He casually picked up a pine cake and took a bite, then paused.

After a while, he continued chewing.

Feng Miaojun smiled brightly: “How is it?”

“The taste is very good,” he nodded, speaking very sincerely.