A day later.
The endless blizzard continued to fall from the sky as relentlessly as ever.
The battered Beifeng City crouched like a giant beast across the route the barbarians had to take south, yet the barbarians who had just completely occupied this colossal city had already begun pulling out in succession.
They did not understand their king's order, but out of trust in him, they obeyed nonetheless.
After the roving wolf cavalry received the war supplies provided by the sects, the massive barbarian army brushed past the sprawling, unbroken line of sect stockades, heading north under the cover of the blizzard.
The sight of two massive, hostile armies moving in tacit accord was so bizarre it seemed like a pantomime.
Both sides were on high alert, yet both maintained restraint.
And while this eerie scene played out,
two hundred li to the north in a snowy forest, a band of several hundred routed soldiers was taking a brief rest.
The snowy woods were utterly silent. Most quietly circulated their cultivation arts to recover what little Source Qi remained in their bodies.
Li Qingyan sat cross-legged in the center of the military array, her eyes closed to rest her spirit, a weary look on her valiant face.
After an unknown time in the drifting wind and snow,
a man clad in a purple python robe drifted down through the blizzard, faint arcs of lightning still crackling about his figure.
As soon as Li Zhaoyuan touched down, a woman clad in an official robe embroidered with a red qilin stood up immediately and bowed in greeting:
“Second Highness.”
Li Zhaoyuan glanced at her sideways. “Mengxi, there is no need for ceremony. Hurry and regulate your breathing to tend to your injuries.”
Xu Mengxi hurriedly bowed her head. “Thanks to the medicinal pills bestowed by Your Second Highness, Mengxi's injuries no longer impede my movement.”
In a desperate siege like that, those with stubborn temperaments and upright conduct often suffered the gravest wounds.
Xu Mengxi was not a shameless slacker like Zhou Chen, who had deliberately taken a direct hit from a barbarian totem as soon as the fighting started and played dead to hide in the rear and nurse his wounds.
During the final battle along the northern wall, Xu Mengxi had fought to the death; had Li Zhaoyuan not stepped in to save her, she would likely have been pulverized into a puddle of flesh and blood by the barbarian totems.
A well-measured gentleness surfaced in Li Zhaoyuan's deep black eyes. “Further ahead, we may encounter barbarian wolf cavalry roving the wilds. When the time comes, do not rush headlong into the fray again.”
Hearing this, Xu Mengxi's red lips curled slightly. Just as she was about to say more, Li Zhaoyuan waved his hand.
“Enough. Rest first. This Prince needs to speak with Qingyan.”
“Understood.” Xu Mengxi looked slightly disappointed, but she nodded nonetheless, sitting cross-legged to breathe and circulate her qi.
Walking silently up to Li Qingyan, Li Zhaoyuan sat down slowly.
Li Qingyan opened her phoenix eyes at that moment and asked, “Second Brother, what is the situation?”
Though born of imperial blood, as the person with the highest cultivation among this remnant force, Li Zhaoyuan had taken on the scout's duty without a word of complaint.
After a moment of silence, Li Zhaoyuan glanced southward and said in a low voice, “The barbarians and the sects have reached an agreement. The barbarians have already begun marching north, most likely to take over the Houting County area.”
Li Qingyan nodded slightly. “Such speed is somewhat earlier than I expected, but at least it bought an entire day.”
Li Zhaoyuan pondered for a moment and asked in a low voice, “Qingyan, are we still heading toward Houting County?”
“Yes.” Li Qingyan nodded.
Li Zhaoyuan's brows furrowed slightly. “There should still be sect forces stationed there. If the Northern Border sects truly reached an agreement with the barbarians...”
He trailed off, but the meaning was already clear.
After fleeing Beifeng, they had chosen Houting County instead of heading for the sect camps outside Beifeng City precisely because they feared the sects would sell them out to the barbarians as bargaining chips.
In their current state, several hundred routed soldiers were no match for those sects.
Once inside their stockades, those several hundred could be made to disappear without a sound.
In other words, heading toward Houting County carried the exact same risk.
Once the barbarian host arrived, the sect border army left behind at Houting County would only need to stall them to make them vanish quietly all the same.
Li Qingyan's crimson pupils betrayed no emotion as she asked flatly, “Second Brother, do you truly believe the Barbarian Heterodox King will abide by an agreement made with the sects?”
“What?” Li Zhaoyuan murmured instinctively, his expression turning somewhat strange.
Li Qingyan looked up at the heavy snow clouds above the woods. “Second Brother, the outcome the Northern Border sects want to see is the barbarians and our imperial court's elites slaughtering each other while they watch from the sidelines. But the Barbarian King's ultimate goal from start to finish has been to breach Beifeng City and invade our Great Yan southward.
“If I put myself in his shoes and stood in the Barbarian King's position, I would lean toward the barbarians launching a surprise attack on the sect elites just as they march into the city.”
“A surprise attack?”
Li Zhaoyuan's sword-like brows knitted even tighter. “The Barbarian King now knows we possess spirit artifacts like the Cloud Qi Bomb that can disperse blizzards. Robbed of the weather's advantage, if they don't rely on city walls or some geographical high ground and instead fight a pitched battle in the open field, their chances of victory are practically zero.”
Li Qingyan shook her head. “Which is why the Barbarian Heterodox King waited an entire day.”
Li Zhaoyuan looked thoughtful. “A day?”
Li Qingyan narrowed her phoenix eyes, her voice slightly hoarse: “During that day, the Barbarian King might have been waiting for the sects to offer a higher price, but I am more inclined to believe he was judging whether the sect elites possessed a third Cloud Qi Bomb. After all, if they had one, the sects would only need to detonate another Cloud Qi Bomb beneath the walls of Beifeng City to disperse the blizzard, and the barbarians would have no choice but to meekly yield.”
Li Zhaoyuan stayed silent for a few breaths, then slowly stood up.
Li Qingyan called out to stop him: “Second Brother, where are you going?”
Li Zhaoyuan replied naturally, “To monitor the movements at Beifeng City, of course. If the sects and the barbarians clash, we need first-hand intelligence.”
A hint of amusement flickered in Li Qingyan's phoenix eyes. “Second Brother, your cultivation is formidable, but if they truly fight, once military arrays of several hundred thousand troops fully deploy, it will not be difficult for their commanders to spot you. This trip is too dangerous; forget it.”
Meeting Li Qingyan's gaze, Li Zhaoyuan let out a breath and cupped his hands. “If that is the case, this Prince shall remain at your side, Qingyan.”
Li Qingyan smiled faintly, braced her hands on her knees, and rose. Glancing at the resting soldiers around her, her voice rang out valiant and clear:
“Form a marching formation. Continue north to Houting County.”
A marching formation was a type of military array; by having the soldiers' Source Qi resonate and supplement each other, it enabled long-distance rapid marches.
In silence once more, the party of several hundred stepped through the snow and headed north.
As they neared the Houting County area, Li Qingyan suddenly frowned and halted the marching soldiers:
“Halt.”
An elite force strictly followed commands; the moment the word left her mouth, the column of several hundred froze instantly on the snowy plains.
Li Qingyan's crimson eyes pierced through the blank expanse of falling snow, faintly discerning two figures standing on a low hillside not far away.
As she watched,
a voice transmission accompanied by a teasing laugh drifted softly across two li of wind and snow, landing accurately in Li Qingyan's ears:
“Your Highness Wuyuan, our Changtian missed you and came here specifically to wait for you.”
At those words, Li Qingyan's chest rose and fell slightly.
But in the next breath,
she glanced back at the soldiers behind her and immediately lowered her voice:
“We are nearly at Houting County. All of you rest in place. Form the Black Tortoise formation and await my command.”
Having said that,
Li Qingyan looked at Li Zhaoyuan. “Second Brother, please keep watch on our surroundings to prevent a surprise attack from barbarian wolf riders.”
Li Zhaoyuan had also spotted the two figures standing on the distant hillside. After a moment of thought, he nodded. “All right. Do you need anyone to accompany you?”
Li Qingyan's red lips curled slightly as she countered, “Second Brother, how could my prince consort bear to harm me?”
With that,
Li Qingyan kicked off the ground and shot toward the distant hillside like an arrow loosed from a bow.
A distance of two li flashed by in an instant.
Landing,
she saw Xu Yuan with his back turned, gazing into the distance, while Lou Ji stood behind him to the side, arms crossed over her chest, saying with a beam: “Your Highness is here. Our Changtian has something to say to you.”
Li Qingyan looked at his back, her chest heaving slightly. Stepping forward, she said with a smile, “Oh? What else does my prince consort wish to say to me?”
Hearing this, Xu Yuan slowly looked back.
Amidst the wind and snow, their eyes met for a breath.
Xu Yuan's brows twitched slightly, and he quietly shifted a step behind Lou Ji.
He... saw a distinct urge to beat someone up in this wicked woman's eyes.
Seeing this, Lou Ji giggled and dragged Xu Yuan out from behind her.
“...”
Pushed in front of Li Qingyan, looking into her close-up, beautiful eyes, Xu Yuan glanced back at Lou Ji.
Lou Ji held her arms across her chest, perfectly content to enjoy the show.
With a soft sigh, Xu Yuan said resignedly, “Sister, leave us for a moment. It seems Qingyan has something to say to me in private.”
“...”
Lou Ji swept her gaze over the two of them, curled her lip, muttered some random nonsense, and swayed her voluptuous figure as she disappeared into the snow.
Once Lou Ji was gone, silence fell over the two standing upon the hillside.
Xu Yuan looked at the woman in red before him, shook his head, and smiled. “It seems you have a lot to say to me, Qingyan?”
“What do you think?”
The cold wind ruffled the tips of Li Qingyan's hair. Her crimson eyes, like red crystals, stared straight at the man before her, a dangerous edge to the smile on her lips.
After hearing the parting warning this fellow had left behind, she had realized many things.
She had been played by him.
From the very beginning, this guy had been pulling the strings behind the entire situation in Beifeng City.
Under her gaze, Xu Yuan leisurely sat down cross-legged on the knoll, then patted the spot beside him, gesturing for Li Qingyan to sit down too.
But Li Qingyan did not move; she simply stared at him in silence.
Xu Yuan shook his head at the sight.
Not obedient at all. Day five of missing the big block of ice.
Pausing, he said offhandedly, “Qingyan, I imagine you must have noticed some clues by now, haven't you? After all, even when Beifeng City fell, you didn't touch the things I left in the northern wall, did you?”
“Heh.”
Li Qingyan sneered in amusement and anger. “Prince Consort... the things you left behind, do you think I would dare touch them? One careless move, and even a first-rank powerhouse would die there.”
Rendered speechless, Xu Yuan laughed and said, “Sometimes flipping the floorboards is an art form in itself.”
“Art?”
Flecks of white dusted Li Qingyan's windblown hair. “Whether it is art or not, I do not know. But I do know that had those Source Crystals been used to power the defenses, Beifeng City would not have fallen even now.”
“Indeed, it wouldn't have fallen,” Xu Yuan agreed with a nod. Then, looking at her, he asked, “And then? Relying on the garrison inside, how much longer could you have held out?”
“...”
Li Qingyan fell silent.
The root cause of Beifeng's fall was not a lack of power for the city-protecting array, but a lack of manpower—and the unflinching apathy of the sect elites outside the walls while their allies were in dire straits.
After several breaths,
she looked at his sharp profile. “Xu Changtian, from the very beginning, you were doing everything in your power to make Beifeng City fall as quickly as possible. Am I right?”
Xu Yuan tilted his head up slightly, met her gaze, and nodded without hesitation: “Yes.”
Li Qingyan let out a long breath. She wasn't angry, asking calmly, “In that case, the bombing of the Triumph Gate in the southern wall was your doing as well?”
Xu Yuan hesitated slightly, giving an ambiguous answer this time: “Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.”
Li Qingyan's brows knitted, her eyes narrowing gradually. “What do you mean by that?”
Xu Yuan propped his hands on the snow behind him, gazing up at the dark, snow-filled sky. After a moment of silence, he said softly,
“I didn't do it.
“However, I suspect my father did.”
“...” Li Qingyan.
There was far too much to unpack in those words.
If thought through deeper, could it be interpreted as Duke Xu colluding with the barbarians?
Pausing for an instant, Li Qingyan asked with a frown, “Are you saying Duke Xu is in contact with the barbarians?”
“Huh?”
Xu Yuan chuckled and looked at Li Qingyan, his smile turning playful. “What made you think that?”
“...”
Li Qingyan was silent for a moment, then leaned down and sat beside him. Exhaling, she said,
“True. I was confused just now. Duke Xu shares no common interests with the barbarians. Besides, knowing that Barbarian Heterodox King, he would never gamble his entire race's destiny on someone else's promise. Detouring to the south of Beifeng City could only have been his own decision.”
At this, Li Qingyan turned to look at Xu Yuan.
“So... this was likely an idle move placed in reserve by Duke Xu?”
“Probably. After all, a cart of Source Crystals isn't particularly valuable to our Chancellor's Manor.”
Xu Yuan's voice was mild and unhurried.
The giant Triumph Gate at the southern wall had been blown up by a carriage from the Tian'an Chamber of Commerce. Initially, Xu Yuan had also assumed someone was framing the Chancellor's Manor.
But the more he learned, the stranger the matter seemed.
Previously, their group of four had entered Beifeng City without inspection because Li Qingyan, the commander of the Feather Forest Guards, was present.
But what about that carriage bearing the emblem of the Tian'an Chamber of Commerce?
It had carried a whole cart of contraband and passed through layer after layer of inspections outside the city in broad daylight to enter the Triumph Gate tunnel.
More importantly,
when Lou Ji investigated the matter personally afterward, she couldn't find a single clue about that carriage.
How many people in this world could pull off something like that?
Furthermore, since Zong Qingsheng could use the Heavenly Communication Crystal to stay in real-time contact with Di'an City, his old man knew very well how long the army deep in the snowfields had gone without facing large-scale harassment.
If this damn thing wasn't an idle piece placed by his old man, who else could it be?
After his words fell, a brief silence hung between them.
Li Qingyan pondered for a while, then asked word by word, “Even an idle move must have a reason. Why did Duke Xu... and you, Prince Consort, want Beifeng to fall?”
“Because it couldn't be held.”
“It could have.”
Li Qingyan said with utter seriousness, “From the start, if you hadn't done those things, Beifeng City could have been held if we chose to hold it.”
Xu Yuan sighed and pointed out, “I don't understand military affairs. With your strategy, Qingyan, perhaps it could have been held until the Marquis and Mr. Zong returned south. But that wouldn't maximize the gains.”
“...”
Li Qingyan thought for a moment, and her gaze grew considerably more complex. Her red lips parted, but in the end, she said nothing.
Watching the shift in her expression, Xu Yuan smiled gently. “I thought you would hit me.”
Li Qingyan slowly lifted her eyes, offering a self-deprecating smile. “Between a single Beifeng City and a century of peace for the Northern Border, I know which to choose. Just as you said before you left last time, one must sacrifice to gain.”
Saying this,
she pressed her red lips together. “I only never imagined that I would become a chess piece in your hands, Prince Consort.”
“Me?”
Xu Yuan pointed at himself and shook his head. “You overestimate me far too much.”
Li Qingyan's lips curved in an ambiguous smile, her long hair drifting in the cold wind. “When I led the elites out of the city to raid the barbarian camp, you immediately provided Cloud Qi Bombs to the sects. At first, I took it as a foolish blunder on your part, but now it seems I was short-sighted. You did it specifically to force the barbarians into an all-out assault while drawing three hundred thousand sect elites south to clash outside Beifeng City.
“I only thought of how to slaughter the barbarians, whereas you not only wanted to wipe out the barbarians, but also pit the tiger against the wolf to devour the sects' three hundred thousand elites in one fell swoop. Could someone who treats Beifeng City, a gateway and strategic stronghold of millennia, as a discarded piece not be considered a chess player?”
“Of course not.”
Xu Yuan gave Li Qingyan a deep look and shook his head.
“What I did was merely one corner of the board.”
“One corner?”
“Do you remember the military supply wagons we saw on our journey north?”
“The military wagons transporting relief supplies to the refugees of the Northern Border?”
“Yes, those exactly. But I suspect the targets of that 'disaster relief' aren't ordinary refugees, but the mountain gates of the Northern Border sects.”
“...”
The wind howled as silence spread.
Xu Yuan slowly braced his hands on his knees and stood up. Looking toward Di'an City in the distance, he murmured,
“Qingyan, we are both chess pieces. The true chess player is in Di'an City.”
Chapter 255