Long Feiye’s late letter only had one line:
Han Yunxi, do you still believe me?
Her fingers brushed lightly against the ink. It was long dried, but still gave off the scent of ink. Although she’d rarely seen his handwriting, she remembered it well. His characters were full of strength, domineering and unrestrained. It radiated his aura entirely. Everyone said that one’s words matched one’s character. But she couldn’t read his thoughts behind this message at all.
The romantic pale purple paper and his vigorous calligraphy was a complete contrast, just like her tenderness and his iron will. The two opposites seem to meld into one on the paper while each standing in their own worlds, ever apart, ever separate.
Did Han Yunxi still trust him?
She stroked the characters over and over again before folding the paper, like all the others, back into its envelope and hiding it carefully away. Then she replied his letter again--not with ‘Long Feiye, I miss you,’ but simple a sheet of blank paper.
Long Feiye was hurrying on his way to Medical City when he received Han Yunxi’s letter. He had already rushed for two days and two nights, but was forced to rest tonight. Otherwise, both the horses and Uncle Gao would collapse. He was still dressed in black robes as he read the message outside the carriage. His n.o.ble, mysterious air was una.s.sailable, his expression seemingly cold as he bent down to study the missive quietly. The night colors made his profile look icily handsome, framing him in his own cold and lonely world.
It was only a single sheet of blank paper, but he stared at it for a long, long time.
Baili Mingxiang, Uncle Gao, and the shadow guard A’Dong were all resting on one side, but their eyes were fixated on the letter in His Highness Duke of Qin’s hands. The man had read it for so long that it must have come from esteemed w.a.n.gfei.
But wasn’t he staring at it a little too long? They still didn’t know whether Gu Beiyue was dead or alive? Baili Mingxiang herself couldn’t stop remembering the same phrases she’d overheard before. She rarely spoke, but now she’d turned absolutely mute. Uncle Gao now shot her a look, but she shook her head, afraid to approach their master. Finally, it was Uncle Gao himself who made the move.
“Your Highness, it’s getting late. You should rest and take care of your body.”
Over the past few days, His Highness had been too busy taking care of various secret missives coming his way to rest at all. Exposing the East Qin’s imperial heir’s ident.i.ty meant that His Highness Duke of Qin’s campaign against the world had officially begun. Great General Baili had already made a quick attack on Tianning’s South Xiao Prefecture, while the prominent clans of the south central regions had all expressed their support for His Highness Duke of Qin and the East Qin imperial family. Western Zhou, Tianan, and even factions within Tianning were all sending letters to express their support and offer their lives for East Qin’s use.
Good news were coming in from all fronts!
His Highness Duke of Qin should have been permanently stationed with his soldiers, but he had set everything aside to leave secretly. If Esteemed w.a.n.gfei Wan, his mother, was still alive, she would have been angered to death. And if Tang Zijin ever found out, he would release Aunt Ru and come chasing after him personally.
Meanwhile, Long Feiye recovered his wits and carefully folded up the empty letter behind slipping it in his robes, next to his heart.
“You’re still not resting?” he asked coldly back.
Uncle Gao was quite overwhelmed by this unexpected favor and didn’t know what to say. But Long Feiye only continued, “If you’re not, then hurry and keep traveling. Get to Medical City within three days and you can go back to the Tang Clan to live out your days in retirement.”
Uncle Gao wanted to cry but had no tears. The fastest route from here to Medical City would still take four days. To rush there by three, they’d have to travel without rest or sleep again. But His Highness Duke of Qin was in such an obviously bad mood that he didn’t dare to complain. He called over Baili Mingxiang and the rest before the group continued to hasten their way back.
Baili Mingxiang was still sitting next to Uncle Gao outside the carriage. She couldn’t help but recall the words His Highness Duke of Qin had told the shadow guard and the phoenix birthmark on esteemed w.a.n.gfei’s back. She was already certain that esteemed w.a.n.gfei still didn’t know her status as the West Qin imperial heir. Had Gu Beiyue discovered the truth along with His Highness Duke of Qin’s ident.i.ty, so a disagreement arose that eliminated him?
Or perhaps Gu Beiyue didn’t know about either of them, but His Highness Duke of Qin simply used him to take Medical City before making a preemptive strike?
Or maybe Gu Beiyue discovered that His Highness Duke of Qin was from East Qin first and wanted to take revenge for West Qin, thus clas.h.i.+ng with him and getting killed?
But what about His Highness Duke of Qin? Did he know the significance of the phoenix birthmark and esteemed w.a.n.gfei’s ident.i.ty? Was he really doting on esteemed w.a.n.gfei, or just faking it?
Baili Mingxiang turned over multiple possibilities in her head. In the end, the Shadow Clan and East Qin imperial clan were incompatible! There was nothing that could dissolve the enmity between the two sides! His Highness Duke of Qin had too much motive and reason to kill Gu Beiyue!
Baili Mingxiang started missing esteemed w.a.n.gfei. Who knows if that woman could be as before, remaining calm and beautifully resolving all difficulties that came her way?
Does esteemed w.a.n.gfei understand the long-standing enmity between East and West Qin?
The carriage hurried on. Long Feiye wrote no more letters to Han Yunxi, but dealt with all of his other letters like usual. Although he never s.p.a.ced out doing his work, he ended up blanking out multiple times today. Baili Mingxiang was conflicted, but after a day and night of indecision, another piece of news stunned all of Cloud Realm Continent, leaving the ma.s.ses gap-faced and jumpy!
It was news of Han Yunxi’s origins! Someone had revealed her status!
Qin w.a.n.gfei wasn’t Han Congan’s daughter, but the child of Lady Tianxin and a descendant of the Poison Sect. Moreover, Lady Tianxin was the Mu Clan’s Mu Xin, whose mother was West Qin’s princess. Han Yunxi might not count for a West Qin princess herself, but she was the only person in the world carrying the West Qin bloodline now. She was none other than West Qin’s heir, so she had full right to carry the t.i.tle of “princess!”
By the time the shadow guard came with the news, Long Feiye simply dashed out of the carriage without telling it to stop. The letter he’d only read halfway fluttered to the ground. He took A’Dong’s horse and galloped off, leaving behind his final instructions.
“Baili Mingxiang, have your father take over all affairs in the military!”
Baili Mingxiang sat stunned. She never thought the problem she’d been worrying over would be proclaimed across the lands like this. But even now, she still couldn’t figure out whether His Highness Duke of Qin had found out beforehand. Meanwhile, A’Dong had tumbled off his horse and was still sitting on the ground, unable to believe his ears.
Uncle Gao pressed a hand over his heart and nearly lost his breath! By the time he recovered, he couldn’t help stuttering to himself. “Heavens, ah...Heavens… Heavens...esteemed w.a.n.gfei was actually…”
Long Feiye galloped away like a madman, unable to imagine how Han Yunxi would react to the news, much less what dangers would greet her. He wished he could appear in front of her right there and then. Even when he received Han Yunxi’s blank letter, he had remained calm and rational. But now he’d completely lost his cool! He had hidden everything so well and did his best to remove all traces. Mute Granny, who knew the whole story, was already dead. Just who else had found out? Who could have released the news at a time like this?
Just...who is it?!
Was it him?!
It was obvious that the person had planned it beforehand. As the news spread to every corner of Cloud Realm Continent, it even reached the hidden realms of the Tang Clan. Tang Zijin flew into a rage and was about to charge off mountain when Lady Tang stopped him.
“Where are you going?” she asked with a white face.
“Where? Hehe!” Tang Zijin laughed coldly. “When Aunt Ru first heard about the Shadow Clan, she already suspected. Who knew that Han Yunxi really turned out to be the West Qin heir? We didn’t have proof before, but now they’ve exposed things for us. Of course I’m going to ask Feiye how he’s going to deal with that woman.”
Lady Tang shoved him with a cold voice. “Feiye’s so shrewd, wouldn’t he have found out already? Would he really allow a woman of uncertain origins to stay by his side?”
This point reminded Tang Zijin to calm down. “You mean to say…Feiye, he...he actually...hid the truth on purpose?”
Lady Tang sighed. “There’s an eighty to ninety percent possibility. Last night A’Li wrote about Gu Beiyue in his letter, didn’t he? As I see it, Feiye must have killed the man to silence a witness!”
“Nonsense! Neither the East Qin nor the Tang Clan’s successive generations would allow him to do something so absurd!” Tang Zijin fumed before turning to head for the back mountains.
“Where are you going now?” Lady Tang chased after him.
But Tang Zijin didn’t even turn around as he quickened his steps. “I’m going to find Aunt Ru!”
It wasn’t just Tang Zijin who was furious, but Baili Yuanlong as well. Once he heard that Han Yunxi was the West Qin heir, he couldn’t suppress his wrath. He immediately wrote a letter to persuade His Highness Duke of Qin to kill the woman quickly. Not only would this put an end to future trouble, but also console the hearts of the East Qin officers. The battle between East and West Qin in the past had sacrificed countless lives of his Bai Clan. So many families were torn apart and left dead, dest.i.tute, or homeless. So many more were forced to change their names and live in a world of injustice. All of that had been caused by the West Qin imperial clan!
The sword sect master’s first reaction upon receiving the news was, “Han Yunxi is the West Qin heir? This….this--Feiye was actually tricked by a woman!”
Wave after wave of reactions rose across the lands of Cloud Realm Continent. Someone said that Han Yunxi had tricked His Highness Duke of Qin, others claimed that His Highness Duke of Qin had long found out and was simply using her before he hurt her, still others were sure neither of them knew the other’s ident.i.ty, but they would definitely seek revenge now that the truth was out…
But no one bothered to ask who was responsible for leaking the news in the first place. Inside the medical academy, Han Yunxi was standing and sitting constantly in her rooms. She felt unwell all over because she remembered Mute Granny! The Mu Clan’s Mute Granny!
Ever since she found out about her ties to the Poison Sect, she stopped suspecting her connections with the West Qin imperial clan. How could she have known that Lady Tianxin wasn’t just the Mu Clan daughter, but a West Qin imperial heir? Even when Gu Beiyue had been exposed as a member of the Shadow Clan, she hadn’t harbored any doubts.
Chu Xifeng told her that Gu Beiyue was the last survivor of the Shadow Clan. All he wanted to do was to live a simple and peaceful life. She believed it! Back then, she had even thought that the man had no reason to hide his origins if she was the West Qin imperial heir. Thus, she believed Chu Xifeng’s excuse.
But now…
What about Long Feiye? How much did he know?
Han Yunxi pressed her hands on the table as her breathing grew anxious. She tried her best to recall everything about Mute Granny! Then she remembered how Mu Linger had once blocked her carriage and cursed her out. Mu Linger claimed that she and Long Feiye had killed Mute Granny…
Han Yunxi took a few deep breaths, but she couldn’t calm down. She couldn’t recall the details. “Linger...Linger…”
She wanted to find Mu Linger, but opening the door revealed Chu Xifeng and Xu Donglin standing at the entrance with a host of shadow guards. She ignored them, but Xu Donglin stopped her from going any further. “Esteemed w.a.n.gfei, you can’t go anywhere right now.”
“Who gave you the right to confine me?” Han Yunxi asked angrily. “Was it Long Feiye?”
But it was Chu Xifeng who replied, his tone like ice. “It wasn’t.”
What...did Chu Xifeng mean?
Chu Xifeng’s forefathers had narrowly escaped being completely wiped out during the East and West Qin battle by the West Qin’s emperor’s defensive forces…