Amid the white smoke, the dagger’s blade flashed bright, driving straight toward Yelu Qianqian.
Before any of the surrounding guards could react, a blade of wind materialized out of nowhere, striking Nanny Qin’s wrist without warning.
At the same moment, a dark shadow flashed past, scooping up Yelu Qianqian and moving to leave.
Startled, Nanny Qin fought through the pain in her wrist and lashed out with a vicious kick straight at Yelu Qianqian — the kick itself carrying a blade of wind.
Yingzi, alarmed, spun around and took the full force of it himself.
Amid the white smoke, he’d held his breath and slipped in silently alongside his lady. Sure enough, the old woman had reacted exactly as his lady predicted — thankfully, they’d arrived in time.
His lady setting the fire had, on the surface, been meant to provoke the enemy — but her true purpose had been to slip inside and rescue the hostage all along.
Only, she hadn’t expected Nanny Qin to strike quite this fast.
Nanny Qin’s wind-blade was indeed formidable — no wonder his lady had been seriously wounded by her before. Yingzi felt as if his entire back was about to split open.
That single wind-blade carried true killing intent, aimed directly at ending Yelu Qianqian’s life.
Enduring the pain in his back, Yingzi had no time to dwell on it and tried to hurry away — but at that moment, all the guards closed in around him.
Badly wounded and burdened with protecting Yelu Qianqian, Yingzi had no strength left to fight back. Ziqing had no choice but to step in, sidestepping Nanny Qin’s attack and unleashing a barrage of wind-blades to drive the guards back and give Yingzi cover.
At the same time, the shadow guards from outside came rushing in.
“None of you are leaving!”
Nanny Qin shrieked, seemingly gone mad, unleashing wind-blades with both hands, one after another in rapid succession.
Ziqing had no choice but to pause and dodge, and Yingzi likewise had to stop, weaving left and right to shield Yelu Qianqian while taking wound after wound himself.
Nanny Qin fought like a woman possessed, heedless of consequence, careless of the internal damage such reckless overexertion of her energy would cause. She’d thrown all caution to the wind, unleashing wind-blade after wind-blade in a dense, relentless barrage — even her own guards weren’t spared.
Ziqing, skilled as she was at dodging, still took two hits, and Yingzi had become nothing more than a living shield for Yelu Qianqian.
At this rate, both sides would suffer devastating losses.
But at this point, no one could get close enough to Nanny Qin to stop her.
What could they do?
Just then, dozens of shadow guards finally arrived. Yingzi, though at the very edge of consciousness, mustered every last bit of strength to shout the order, “Protect Her Highness!”
The moment the words left his mouth, the shadow guards surged forward, facing the wind-blades head-on to shield Ziqing, while two guards hung back behind the others, swords drawn, clearly waiting for the right moment to close in and strike Nanny Qin down in a single stroke.
Soon, several shadow guards formed a human wall in front of Ziqing, and she finally let out a breath of relief.
Meanwhile, Yingzi found himself protected as well — the moment a shadow guard took Yelu Qianqian from his arms, he collapsed unconscious.
Jun Beiyue’s shadow guards truly could be used as expendable warriors, willing to die on command.
Nanny Qin, seemingly consumed by madness, spun in place again and again, unleashing wind-blade after wind-blade, while all around her, the shadow guards gradually formed a solid human wall, closing in.
Ziqing stood behind that wall, silently watching Nanny Qin’s endlessly spinning figure.
This old woman — an enemy of Da Zhou!
It was precisely because she had abducted Yelu Qianqian that Ziqing had been forced apart from Jun Beiyue for so long, that Da Zhou’s western border had been plunged into crisis for so long, that she’d had to mobilize this much effort searching through the frozen wastes of the northern steppe for so many days.
This old woman truly deserved to die.
Ziqing should have struck by now, and yet she hesitated, watching in silence, seemingly lost in thought about something else entirely.
Suddenly, a shadow guard leapt out from behind the human wall, sword thrusting straight forward!
At that very moment, Nanny Qin sensed the killing intent and stopped short — and in that same instant, Ziqing unleashed a wind-blade of her own, snapping the shadow guard’s sword in two.
The guard was stunned. Nanny Qin, too, was startled, breathing hard, staring warily at Ziqing.
“You’ve lost. Go,” Ziqing said flatly, kicking aside the corpse of a Dong Qin guard at her feet and turning to leave.
“Why!” Nanny Qin suddenly snapped.
Ziqing didn’t answer. Nanny Qin’s fury erupted at once, pointing at her and unleashing a torrent of curses. “It’s all you! Han Ziqing, it’s all because of you! How many chances did the crown prince miss because of you! You bringer of disaster! You harbinger of ruin! Do you even know that you destroyed the crown prince’s lifelong dream!”
Ziqing said nothing, head lowered, walking silently toward the exit.
But Nanny Qin’s curses kept coming. “Han Ziqing, I curse you — I curse you to die a horrible death, I curse you to bring nothing but calamity upon Jun Beiyue! You vixen, you harbinger of ruin! It’s all because of you that our crown prince disappeared, that he left, that he gave up!”
“Han Ziqing, do you even understand? When the crown prince gave up Dong Qin, he gave up himself! It’s all your doing!”
“He had so many chances before! All because of you, you!”
“Han Ziqing, kill me then! Why pretend to be merciful — kill me! Are you keeping me alive just to humiliate me!”
“Han Ziqing, let me tell you this — I’ve lost, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give up! I’m telling you now, I will never let Da Zhou know a single moment of peace!”
……
As she cursed, Nanny Qin sank to the ground, hair disheveled, tears suddenly streaming down her face.
Sharp-tongued as she’d been, she knew the truth — now that Yelu Qianqian had been taken, no one remained who could disrupt the alliance between Da Zhou and Xijing.
With Da Zhou’s rear secured, that meant Dong Qin was finished.
Suddenly, she broke down into heart-wrenching sobs. “Crown Prince, Dong Qin is finished, Dong Qin is finished — Crown Prince, where are you!”
By then, Ziqing had already walked out of the cave. She couldn’t hear Nanny Qin’s weeping, but those curses, those words, lingered in her ears, echoing over and over.
A harbinger of ruin? A bringer of calamity?
She shook her head, trying to shake off those unwelcome words — but no matter how hard she tried, they wouldn’t fade.
No one knew what she was thinking. She simply stood there, head down, her small face darkened with shadow, paying no mind to the rescued Yelu Qianqian or Yingzi. She stood in silence before the cave.
After a long while, she slowly lifted her head, gazing toward the direction of the small northern town.
What was Lige doing right now? Was he composing music?
The Empress of Dong Qin, Xuanyuan Zhaoxi, Nanny Qin — did any of them truly understand Xuanyuan Lige? Did they truly know what he wanted? Had any of them ever truly given him anything at all?
Thirty years old — who said that was too short a life? Thirty years could still be lived brilliantly, meaningfully. So why force a dream of Dong Qin upon him against his will?
The throne of Dong Qin had always belonged to the Empress herself, and she’d always intended to pass it on to Xuanyuan Zhaoxi!
What did the dream of Dong Qin have to do with Xuanyuan Lige at all? Did he not even have the right to give up, to feel despair? Did he not even deserve a chance at a new life?
Just then, the shadow guards emerged from the cave. The one leading them hesitated a moment before speaking timidly, “Your Highness, why — why didn’t we kill her? Won’t she keep spreading lies to turn people against you?”
“I promised a friend I’d spare her life,” Ziqing said flatly, letting out a long breath before turning to walk toward the unconscious Yelu Qianqian.
Yelu Qianqian, Yelu Qianqian — finally found you.