"What, you want to leave by yourself?"
Tianyan gave him a sidelong glance, her exquisite golden eyes half-lidded as she swept her gaze up and down Xu Yuan. "Though with your cultivation, Third Young Master, heading south alone means you'll very likely die on the road."
Hearing the heavy gunpowder in her tone, Xu Yuan felt slighted and muttered back, "Tsk. Plenty of martial apprentices at Bone Tempering and Meridian Tempering dare to operate in the Northern Border. My Soul Condensation cultivation isn't actually weak."
Li Qingyan pressed down on her muli veil, its black gauze swaying gently. "If that's the case, why doesn't Changtian travel south alone? If you take this opportunity to travel south through the Northern Border by yourself, you ought to gain quite a lot."
"......"
Xu Yuan smacked his lips.
He sensed something wasn't quite right.
In the half-hour it took to circle back to the barracks from the city wall, shouldn't these two women have torn into each other while left alone? Why did it feel like he, the referee, had become their target instead?
Thinking this, he cast an inconspicuous glance at Xiao Bai, who was following behind with her head bowed.
Sensing his gaze, Bai Muxi raised her bright eyes, glanced at the two slender figures in front of her—one tall, one petite—and after a momentary flicker in her gaze, spoke in a quiet voice: "If Young Master wishes to head south alone, Muxi is willing to accompany you."
*Whoosh—*
The moment the words left her mouth, two chilly gazes turned toward her in unison.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Bai lowered her head at once. "That is... if Her Highness Wuyuan agrees."
Her words completely bypassed a certain someone, leaving the palace-gowned maiden thoroughly displeased. Her willow brows knitted slightly, and her gaze toward this woman of peculiar aura grew somewhat unfriendly.
Li Qingyan's gaze beneath the muli veil, on the other hand, turned quite amused.
Xu Yuan's expression didn't change, but inwardly he was pleased.
Obedient, sensible, and knowing just when to use a touch of green-tea innocence to draw the hostility away from him.
Clearing his throat lightly, Xu Yuan murmured, "All right, Muxi, don't stir up trouble. Qingyan and Tianyan were only speaking in anger."
Bai Muxi immediately dipped into a bow without any excuse. "Muxi knows her mistake."
"Don't do it again."
"Understood."
"......"
Turning his gaze back toward the two women, Xu Yuan was about to speak when Tianyan suddenly broke the silence, her voice crisp and indifferent: "Xu Yuan, you haven't introduced this Miss Bai to me yet."
Xu Yuan showed surprise and looked toward Li Qingyan, asking in bewilderment, "You two didn't introduce her just now?"
Watching the fire from across the river, Li Qingyan replied succinctly, "Earlier, the Chief Arbiter told the Saintess that she chose to follow you because she owed you a great debt of gratitude."
Xu Yuan turned back to Tianyan. "Isn't that already an introduction? I did her a favor, so she follows me. Simple as that."
"......"
Tianyan's eyes flickered, her gaze darting between Xu Yuan and Bai Muxi.
The former looked entirely calm and matter-of-fact, while the latter had already demurely lowered her eyelids.
Their reactions left her with a feeling of grievance—a strength with nowhere to strike.
Clearly their relationship went far beyond that, yet she had no standing whatsoever to question him.
Watching the silent palace-gowned maiden, an amused smile flashed in Li Qingyan's eyes. She suddenly stirred the pot, murmuring softly, "Changtian saved the Chief Arbiter's family, and having exhausted all she possessed, she had no way to repay him. So... well... heheh."
"......"
Xu Yuan's eyes froze. He slowly turned his gaze toward Li Qingyan in sheer disbelief.
*Hiss... You're knifing me in the back?*
Beneath the muli veil, those magnificent crimson eyes blinked at him playfully.
The prickly feeling on his back made Xu Yuan realize he had underestimated a woman's vindictiveness; no matter how rational and clever a woman was, she would still hold a grudge and fan the flames.
Yet Xu Yuan's handsome face remained composed, because he knew Xiao Bai would make a move.
And true to expectation,
Barely had Li Qingyan's voice faded when Bai Muxi's soft murmur quietly drifted over with lowered lashes: "Her Highness speaks the truth. For such immense kindness, Muxi truly has no way to repay him. However... that is merely Muxi's unrequited longing."
"Stop putting on an act."
Tianyan's clear, delicate voice cut through the trio's performance. Taking a deep breath, she turned her small face away. "Even if it isn't unrequited, I... have no right to say anything anyway."
Nothing was harder to bear than the tender debt of a beauty.
Seeing her desolate, crestfallen expression amidst the wind and snow, Xu Yuan sighed softly. But he did not console her, turning instead to Li Qingyan. "Where are we heading south together?"
Li Qingyan glanced at Tianyan, shook her head inwardly, and sent a voice transmission: *"You truly are coldhearted."*
Xu Yuan didn't reply.
*"Do you want me to step away for a bit?"*
Still, Xu Yuan didn't reply.
What a joke—the Heaven-Deducing Art came with its own built-in eavesdropping on voice transmissions.
Seeing this, Li Qingyan didn't dwell on the matter and spoke aloud instead: "We are heading south to Guangyang Prefecture."
Guangyang Prefecture was the provincial capital of Damang Province, an imperial-controlled transport hub for northbound travel where over a dozen official roads converged.
"Guangyang Prefecture?" Xu Yuan muttered, asking softly, "What are we going there for?"
Through the black gauze of the muli veil, Li Qingyan glanced southward. "The blades are drawn, and the war has begun. Once I deliver you there, this palace must return to the army."
Xu Yuan hesitated slightly. "You aren't returning to the Imperial Capital with me?"
"What, can't bear to part with me?" Li Qingyan transmitted with smiling eyes. *"If Changtian can't bear to let me go, I might consider keeping you company."*
Xu Yuan rolled his eyes and stayed silent.
Li Qingyan shook her head in mild boredom and stopped transmitting, saying leisurely, "Returning to Di'an City would just mean dealing with all that family nonsense. Hmph, with my status, entering the capital means being dragged right into it. Compared to those scrambles for power and profit, the battlefields of the Northern Border need me more."
A light breeze lifted the veil, and in that fleeting glimpse, one could see the resignation lingering in her gem-like crimson eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Yuan suddenly asked, "Are we in a rush?"
Li Qingyan let out a slight sound of curiosity. "You need time?"
Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment, then chuckled softly. "When we first arrived in Beifeng, we talked about erecting a stele for the soldiers. Have you forgotten?"
Surprise flickered in Li Qingyan's crimson eyes, stirring faint ripples in her heart. She shook her head. "I thought you had forgotten. But there is no need."
"......"
Xu Yuan's eyes filled with confusion as he instinctively glanced at the battered Beifeng City. Li Qingyan's voice drifted leisurely: "My second brother has already done it. Right at the south of the city. After the Barbarian army was routed, he spent ten days and ten nights personally carving every fallen soldier recorded in the registers onto the southern wall.
"By now, word of this has likely spread across the realm, and his renown in the army is no small matter."
Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes, then sighed. "If so, then let it be."
"I thought you would be angry." Li Qingyan looked into his eyes. "After all, that renown should have been yours."
When the four of them had first arrived at Beifeng, erecting a stele was something the man before her had proposed first, so that those who died would leave a mark in this world.
"Renown... Having that renown pinned on my head feels a bit hollow," Xu Yuan chuckled softly, shaking his head. "No matter who does it, the deed is done. The point is to make future generations remember the soldiers who fell in this war against the Barbarians. Since Li Zhaoyuan has done it, let him have it."
Li Qingyan looked deeply at him. "The rank-and-file soldiers and officers don't understand the power struggles within the palace walls. They will only think that Second Brother, as imperial royalty—"
"I know," Xu Yuan gently cut in.
Royalty was supreme in the eyes of the common folk.
Even in his previous life, there had been tales like Wu Qi sucking the pus from a soldier's wound, let alone in this transcendent world where the disparity between classes was unbridgeable.
In the eyes of ordinary soldiers, after this act, Li Zhaoyuan was a benevolent prince, perhaps even a future benevolent sovereign.
However...
Xu Yuan looked in the direction of the southern wall, as if seeing Li Zhaoyuan's flamboyant calligraphy etched upon it, and smiled faintly.
"Too late.
"If he wanted to make inroads into the military, carving a monument was indeed a fine entry point, but it's too late. Had it been ten years earlier, with Li Zhaoyuan's character and methods, he might truly have established an influence in the army. But under the current situation, there is no time left for him to lay his pieces.
"Still, since Li Zhaoyuan has already carved the monument, there is no reason for us to remain here in Beifeng. Let's go."
With that, Xu Yuan stepped into the snowy curtain without looking back.
Watching his retreating figure, Li Qingyan narrowed her phoenix eyes slightly and pursed her lips with mixed emotions.
Through the veil, Tianyan's clear golden pupils took in her expression, and she let out a sigh as faint as a mosquito's hum: "Just like that again..."
***
Beneath the vast sky, mountain ranges stretched endlessly, enveloped in a deathly desolation amidst boundless flying snow.
A massive lion-eagle with a wingspan of over thirty zhang tore through the void amidst the blizzard, descending toward the ground. Amidst the snow-clad peaks overgrown with woods, its flapping wings generated wind pressure that flattened the treetops. Snow on the ground swirled wildly into dance, resembling a celestial pavilion for a fleeting moment.
When all settled, the lion-eagle beast lay flat upon the ground, while the wind and snow continued unabated.
A faint creak of an opening door sounded along with a warm male voice complaining into the quiet mountainside: "This Grade-B military demonic beast is truly embarrassing. It can't even hold out against a little cold."
Stepping outside, the biting wind scraped against him like knives. Xu Yuan hurriedly circulated his cultivation technique to ward off the chill. With warmth surging through his body, he glanced around and let out a long sigh. "At this rate, who knows when we'll make it back to Guangyang Prefecture."
"Slow?"
A crisp, pleasant female voice chimed in. A palace-gowned maiden hovering in midair followed the brocade-robed man out onto the platform of the pavilion, saying softly, "If not for a certain someone's pathetic cultivation, forcing us to travel by demonic beast, we probably would have arrived days ago. Wouldn't you say so, Third Young Master?"
"......" Xu Yuan.
Crisp and lovely, but dripping with sarcasm.
Xu Yuan gave the expressionless girl beside him a sidelong look and grinned. "You can go ahead on your own. It's not like our destinations are the same anyway."
"......" Tianyan hmphed coldly and fell silent.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan reached out, wanting to gently smooth the stray hair at her temples. Sensing his intention, Tianyan hmphed in her heart, but did not dodge. However, his movement was interrupted by another rustling, low female voice:
"Let's find a place to rest. Although this lion-eagle beast can endure the cold, its stamina is lacking. We'll rest for the night before continuing."
Xu Yuan casually pulled his hand back and looked toward the tall, slender figure appearing at the wooden door.
She had already changed into plain clothes, her jade legs long and straight; with no chest wrap binding her, her curves were alluringly pronounced.
Floating in midair level with her, the palace-gowned maiden coldly glanced sideways at this chest-binding princess who had deliberately stopped binding her chest. "Rest in this pavilion?"
Li Qingyan didn't reply, looking at Xu Yuan to let him decide.
After thinking it over, Xu Yuan chuckled softly. "Let's head down and take a look around. Cooped up in this wretched pavilion every day, my waist has started aching from sleeping in it."
Tianyan's pupils shrank, as if recalling something, and a faint, barely perceptible blush crept onto her fair cheeks.
Li Qingyan said with a beaming smile, "Changtian, you really ought to take good care of your waist. Did you ever take the medicinal pills this palace gifted you back in the Imperial Capital?"
Xu Yuan's eyes narrowed, and he replied with a smile, "Heh. Being good with your mouth doesn't count as real skill. As for Your Highness's knack for keeping your word, I've certainly experienced plenty of it."
Listening to their banter, Tianyan let out a cold snort and cut them off: "So, Third Young Master, where are we going to wander off to? I remember that as a mighty Soul Condensation expert, you still need to sleep. Are you planning to make the sky your quilt and the earth your mat in this snowy weather?"
She practically ground her teeth on those last words.
Locking eyes with her for a brief second, Xu Yuan replied without blushing or batting an eye, "Sleeping under the open sky wouldn't be bad, but it lacks elegance. Sleep still requires a sense of ritual. Let's find a place to stay."
Hearing that, Tianyan's clear golden eyes swept across the mountainside, gazing directly through the swirling blizzard. "Three li to the west is a mountain village. Two li to the east is a cave, though there's a bear demon inside. Where to?"
"Caves where demonic beasts live are usually foul," Xu Yuan muttered. Then, with a hint of curiosity, he asked, "Still, in such heavy snow, there's actually a mountain village here?"
Tianyan replied expressionlessly, "A village with no living souls."
"......"
The words fell, and silence descended instantly.
"In snow like this, even cultivators struggle to survive, let alone mortals," Li Qingyan spoke softly. "I'd like to... let's go check the village. We can leave the lion-eagle beast here; it can hunt for its own food."
Xu Yuan sighed and nodded.
Calling along Xiao Bai, who had been curled up in a corner of the pavilion practicing the Reversed Origin Six Elements Art, and hauling the 'mighty Soul Condensation expert' along with Source Qi, the party of four sped west along the mountainside.
A dozen or so breaths later, they reached their destination. But what met Xu Yuan's eyes was not a village, but a mountain hollow completely buried in snow.
Standing in midair, Tianyan parted her lips slightly: "Wind."
As the word fell, a sudden gale rose, sweeping up the drifted snow in the hollow and revealing several dilapidated stone houses beneath.
The houses of the mountain village were not clustered together; two or three houses here and there, stretching across several li, constituted a village.
Dropping into a courtyard surrounded by a stone fence, Xu Yuan extended his intent-soul to sweep through the house, whispering, "No one. Looks like they evacuated early to flee the snow disaster. I recall that when the snow disaster first hit, the imperial court issued a disaster-evacuation decree..."
"Impossible," Li Qingyan's quiet voice interrupted Xu Yuan with a light sigh. "Imperial authority does not reach the countryside, let alone a mountain village like this. Looking at the layout of this home, it was likely a hunter's family. Most probably, they couldn't survive and fled on their own as refugees."
"The bodies of this family are all inside that bear demon's cave," Tianyan cut in bluntly. "Faced with this natural disaster, these mountain folk could never survive."
Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment, then said, "The common people within the cities aren't having it any easier. Much of the disaster relief grain issued by the court was disguised as military provisions. Ordinary folk can't even guarantee one meal a day to stave off cold and hunger."
Tianyan swept her gaze over the two of them, her voice calm and detached: "Xu Yuan, Your Highness, as high-ranking figures of the imperial court, you two should know very well what mobilizing the army at a time like this means for the common people at the bottom, shouldn't you?"
Chapter 336