That dagger…

Nanmeng Rong’s gaze fell upon the dagger. She reached out and took it casually.

But the moment she looked at it again, the dagger suddenly felt as though it had transformed into a searing branding iron — she could not hold it steady at all, and it slipped from her fingers at once, clattering to the ground.

Clang. The dagger struck the floor, and beneath the candlelight of the luminous night pearls, it gleamed with a blinding brilliance.

In truth, it was nothing more than an ordinary dagger — hardly a divine weapon or legendary blade.

What had thrown Matron Qin and Nanmeng Rong into such panic was a single character engraved unmistakably upon the dagger: Long — Dragon!

Dragon!

Which Dragon?

Under heaven, there were no shortage of people fond of dragons, no shortage of people who dared to quietly use the dragon character, and those who bore Long as a surname were as many as the hairs on an ox.

And yet this character — this very character!

The tips of Nanmeng Rong’s fingers trembled. Even her body had begun to shudder.

She fixed her gaze upon the guard kneeling on the ground in helpless confusion, and her voice, when it came, carried the faintest trace of a tremor: “Where did it come from… where did it come from!”

The guard was badly frightened. He had no idea what was happening, nor why this dagger had made Her Highness look so terrified.

What did that mean for him? Was he about to be executed?

“In… in reply to Your Highness — it was found in the small wooden cabin. It had been placed inside… inside a wooden box. It seemed as though… it had not been touched in a very long time.”

He truly did not understand what Her Highness’s reaction meant. His greatest fear was that she would flare up in rage and order men to drag him out and cut off his head.

“When this subordinate found it… the wooden box… there was some dust on the box, as though someone had wiped it from time to time, but it appeared not to have been wiped for several days…”

“And the person living in the small cabin — where are they?” Nanmeng Rong’s breathing had grown disordered; the tips of her fingers would not stop trembling, her gaze flickering with unease — and within her eyes, there lay something that could just barely be seen with the naked eye: fear.

“In reply to Your Highness — the small cabin was empty. That person likely became aware that someone had come up the mountain and has not reappeared since. This subordinate and the others waited on the mountain for three days and still could not find them.”

They must have already known of the search party’s presence, and would not be returning.

The climate on Snow Lotus Mountain was truly unsuitable for human habitation. Even fully prepared, they could only endure three days at the summit — and even within those three days, they had been rotating shifts continuously, and still some of their men had been frostbitten and sent back down.

Continuing to stay up there was simply out of the question.

That someone had lived in that small cabin for so long — they were clearly no ordinary person. The depth of their inner power was beyond imagination.

“Go and investigate again! Send men back up immediately! That person must be found — they must be!”

Nanmeng Rong’s voice grew louder and louder, and whether from anger or dread, she could not tell — all she knew was that she had lost all composure, so thoroughly rattled that she could barely keep herself from passing out.

“Yes!” The guard heard the order and responded at once, rising to his feet and turning to leave.

Going back up to Snow Lotus Mountain to investigate was still preferable to staying here.

Harsh as the conditions on Snow Lotus Mountain were, at least there would be no sudden calamity within a short time — but here, death could come at any moment.

Just as the guard was nearly at the tent’s entrance, a voice rang out from deep within — still carrying that faint tremor: “Come back!”

The guard’s entire body stiffened, and he nearly buckled at the knees.

He hurried back and knelt upon the ground once more, asking with anxious reverence: “Your… Your Highness, is there anything else you wish to command?”

“Not a word to anyone. Every single thing found on Snow Lotus Mountain is to be brought directly to me for inspection. Do not alarm anyone — especially not the Emperor’s people!”

“Yes!” The guard exhaled a long breath of relief and finally withdrew.

“All of you, step back.” Matron Qin waved her hand, and all the maids and young eunuchs standing guard inside and outside the tent lowered their heads and quickly retreated.

Once everyone had gone and the space was empty, Matron Qin — having forced herself into a semblance of calm — walked to the bedside and looked at Nanmeng Rong, lowering her voice: “Your Highness, they have… they have all gone far.”

Matron Qin had served by Nanmeng Rong’s side for many, many years. When Nanmeng Rong was small, Matron Qin had been her wet nurse. Later, when Nanmeng Rong became Empress, Matron Qin took on the role of palace matron.

Through all those years of close companionship, nearly everything Nanmeng Rong had ever done was known to Matron Qin — much of it witnessed firsthand, with her own participation.

Why Nanmeng Rong was now in such a state of panic — Matron Qin understood better than anyone. It was because the character on that dagger was far too familiar.

“It’s her. It must be her!” Nanmeng Rong pressed her hand over her chest, where her heart was — as though an invisible hand had seized it in a vice, squeezing until her whole body ached and even breathing felt difficult.

“Perhaps… perhaps it is only a coincidence. Perhaps someone merely picked up one of her belongings…”

“Do you actually think that’s possible?” Nanmeng Rong snapped her head up and glared at her, not even sure herself whether what she felt was fury or something else entirely.

In truth, fury was out of the question. Right now, she did not even have the strength for anger.

What she felt was, in truth… only despair.

It was Long Feiyan. Long Feiyan had come back!

Back then, Long Feiyan’s body had never been recovered. Everyone had speculated — perhaps General Long had not truly died.

But she had never appeared again. Not once in all these years. Not once!

At first, there were still those who waited for General Long to return — waiting months, even a year, two years, three years.

But General Long never came back. General Long was truly gone.

At the time, though Long Feiyan’s body had not been found, how devastating had that battle been? There were countless fallen warriors who had been torn apart and scattered.

How many bodies could not be recovered in full? How many had died on that battlefield, their very bones reduced to nothing?

That Long Feiyan’s remains had never been brought back — it was because even her body had been incomplete, scattered beyond recovery. It had to be that. She could not possibly still be alive.

If Long Feiyan were still alive, how could she not have returned?

So much had befallen the Long Family afterward, and given her nature, how could she have endured it without coming back to stand guard over her own kin?

To say nothing of the underage daughter she had left behind — that tiny child, so pitiable without a mother.

If Long Feiyan were alive, how could she bear to watch all of this unfold? How could she not have shown herself?

She was dead. She had to be dead.

And yet — what did this dagger mean? Why did the character carved upon it match exactly the carvings on the weapons Long Feiyan had once used?

This dragon character — Nanmeng Rong would not forget it until her dying day.

And even Matron Qin remembered it so clearly, did she not? Long Feiyan of those years had been a name renowned far and wide — how many people had her deeds branded upon their hearts?

Why had this dagger appeared in a small cabin on Snow Lotus Mountain? Who on earth had been living for so long in that place of unbearable cold?

Who? Who in the world could it be? Could it be Long Feiyan?

Nanmeng Rong was nearly spiraling into madness. Matron Qin gripped her shoulders with force, but was sent flying by a burst of her inner energy, slamming hard against the tea table. The blow sent a sharp pain shooting through her elderly back — she nearly blacked out.

“Your Highness, it cannot be her — Your Highness!”

Afraid that she would grow too agitated and injure herself, Matron Qin scrambled forward in a panic and threw her arms around her once more: “Your Highness — Long Feiyan is dead. She is already dead!”