Nanmen Rong had always believed that A’Jiu harbored some feeling for her — so when she had struck at him just now, she had used only thirty percent of her true energy.

Yet his palm, which carried at least seventy percent of his power, had landed squarely and solidly against her chest.

That one strike shattered her meridians and truly, genuinely wounded her to the core.

The tall figure in her sight was striding rapidly away. Nanmen Rong wanted to rise and pursue him, but the moment she moved, another mouthful of blood surged forth.

The Empress had been injured. The guards and palace maids trailing behind her wanted to help her up, yet she pushed them all away with a single sweep of her arm.

“No one is to touch this Palace!”

She wanted to watch — to watch whether her most beloved A’Jiu truly had the heart to be this ruthless.

Wounded as she was, still lying on the ground and coughing up blood, could he truly feel not even the slightest concern?

He hadn’t even turned back. He couldn’t even be bothered to spare her a single glance.

Someone else approached, wanting to help her up. Nanmen Rong thrust her palm out: “This Palace told you to get away!”

But the person intercepted her palm and deftly deflected its force, then took hold of her arm and firmly helped her to her feet regardless.

“This Palace told you to…” Nanmen Rong turned back, and upon seeing clearly the young man standing at her side, she was suddenly struck with a measure of unease.

Everything she had done just now, shamelessly throwing herself at a man — had her son witnessed all of it? Would her son look down on her as a mother for being so pathetic?

“Mother, you should return to the palace.” Zhan Yuheng was clearly travel-worn himself.

Having rushed back from the Southern Wilds, he hadn’t even had time to enter the palace for an audience before he heard that his mother had come to the Imperial Academy. So he had hurried over as well.

What else could his mother be here at the Imperial Academy for, besides looking for the Ninth Imperial Uncle? There was nothing else.

And indeed — he arrived to find his mother clinging desperately to the Ninth Imperial Uncle, and to witness the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s utter coldness toward her.

Now, looking at his mother who was still coughing up blood, Zhan Yuheng suddenly didn’t know whether to remain angry or to feel heartache.

She was still his own mother, in the end. What else could he do?

All her faults amounted to nothing more than caring too deeply for the Ninth Imperial Uncle. Yet the Ninth Imperial Uncle had not even a shred of compassion for her.

Though he understood clearly that the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s lack of feeling toward his mother was the right and proper way to be, watching his own mother suffer such humiliation still stirred an unavoidable measure of displeasure within him.

The Ninth Imperial Uncle showed far too little respect to their entire family.

And now even Jiu’er was at the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s side — how could he not feel resentment?

“Mother, do you want to keep staying here and letting yourself be humiliated?” Zhan Yuheng’s face was expressionless. He glanced toward where Zhan Qingcheng had long since disappeared, and said with displeasure: “Must those who are the Emperor’s own closest kin be humiliated in this way?”

“Heng’er…” A bleakness swept through Nanmen Rong’s heart.

Her son was genuinely concerned for her. But that man who had walked away — he truly had not a single shred of feeling for her.

“Mother, whatever feelings you may have toward Father, at the very least Father respects you. When has the Ninth Imperial Uncle ever shown you any respect?”

Zhan Yuheng swept his sleeve, and the people around them immediately dispersed. No one dared to linger.

Matters of imperial dignity could not be spoken of in front of outsiders — whoever heard such things would have to die. Earlier, there had been too many people, and one cannot punish an entire crowd.

Now that His Highness the Crown Prince had deliberately sent everyone away, who would dare remain?

Zhan Yuheng looked at Nanmen Rong, whose lips were stained entirely with blood, and heaved a helpless, shallow sigh. He pulled up his sleeve and used it to wipe the blood from her lips.

His face betrayed no expression as he spoke: “Mother, if you still have any dignity, then live well. Make those who disregard you bow before you someday.”

“Make those who are heartless toward you find themselves unable to aspire to your heights in the future. Do you understand?”

Yet Nanmen Rong still could not see it — and didn’t know whether such a future could ever exist.

“Will he… truly bow before me someday?” Would there truly come a day when he wished he could aspire to her heights?

A’Jiu was so proud. How could he possibly…

“That depends on whether the power in your hands is truly great enough!” Zhan Yuheng’s gaze fell once more upon the distance.

At the archway over there, there was no longer any trace of Zhan Qingcheng’s figure.

He had left so decisively. The direction he had gone was toward the Bright Moon Courtyard, where the new female students resided. Was he going to look for Feng Jiu’er?

Last time, the Ninth Prince had forced his way into his chambers and taken Feng Jiu’er away with him. To say that Zhan Yuheng felt no anger over that would be impossible.

But now that things had already come to this, no matter how angry he felt, he could not lose his composure.

“Mother, let us return to the palace.”

Feng Jiu’er hadn’t imagined she would truly find herself trapped on this Snow Lotus Mountain.

The so-called Snow Lotus Beasts were indeed quite unlike ordinary wild beasts. In both speed and strength, they far surpassed common creatures.

Most critically, their sheer size was enormous — to her, they were an existence she was completely incapable of dealing with.

With a sharp tearing sound, the beast-hide coat she wore was ripped clean off her body. Even the garment beneath it was shredded open in a gaping tear. Had her movements not been sufficiently agile, that last strike would have left her back split open and bleeding.

Even so, the cold air at her back was bitter, and as the fierce wind and driving snow came rushing in, her entire body suddenly felt as though it had stiffened several degrees over.

It was truly so cold!

Jiu’er’s strength, after round upon round of struggle, was nearly spent entirely.

Yet just as one Snow Lotus Beast tore her garments apart, the other launched itself directly at her from the front in the same instant.

The silver needles in Feng Jiu’er’s hands were of absolutely no use against creatures as massive as these Snow Lotus Beasts.

The Snow Lotus Beast’s razor-sharp claws were about to come crashing down on her face.

Jiu’er had nothing left in her hands to fight with. All she could do was raise her palm and thrust it outward.

But as though the heavens were deliberately putting her to the test, the true energy she had managed to gather just moments before now refused to coalesce at all.

She had always known that the powerful true energy within her sometimes worked, and sometimes was completely beyond her control.

But for it to act up at a moment like this — could it have no less sense of occasion than this? This was a life-or-death moment!

Her palm drove forward and failed to harm the Snow Lotus Beast in the slightest, yet the beast’s claws were already right before her.

In despair, Feng Jiu’er raised both hands to shield her face and braced for the agonizing pain to come.

Was she truly going to die here today?

Ninth Imperial Uncle…

Suddenly, from somewhere unknown, a long and flowing melody carried on a flute drifted through the air — low and lingering in tone, yet amidst the howling blizzard, it was of an indescribable beauty.

The melody rose and fell, now close, now distant. Feng Jiu’er could not determine at all from which direction the sound was coming.

But to her great relief, the Snow Lotus Beasts gradually grew still within that music.

Both creatures turned to face the direction from which the blizzard came, as though in a daze — as though waiting for someone.

This chance must not be missed!

Feng Jiu’er’s feet launched off the ground, and she darted immediately toward the boundary line.

Whoever had played that flute — she would worry about that later. If she didn’t leave now, there might not be another chance. But what she never could have anticipated was this: though the melody had sounded clearly not yet close, the moment she took her first step, a figure dropped lightly and landed right before her…