Chapter 61

The desolate Gobi Desert was eroded day after day by fine sand, and the uninhabited ancient fortress stood dilapidated in the wind and sun.

The blowing sand was like snow. Beyond this city gate lay an endless expanse of yellow sand that filled the sky. As far as the eye could see, there was a desolate, gray-toned decay, giving one the illusion of having strayed into a chaotic realm.

The golden crow was about to descend, and the setting sun cast a golden halo. A thin layer of light gauze was spread across the edge of the sky, appearing exceptionally heavy in the dim environment.

The hooves kicked up a soft, amber-colored haze. Within the dust, a few indistinct, faceless black shadows faintly lingered, closely pursuing the carriage and horses of the group.

Qi Yu urged urgently, "Hurry faster."

The group had traveled for a whole day and night almost without eating or drinking before reaching the border city. Once they passed this city gate and entered the vast desert, no one would be able to catch up with them anymore.

He glanced sideways at the delicate person lying on the wide lounge chair. The woman's eyelids were lowered and her eyes closed, quietly lying on her side surrounded by a circle of plush fur. Her red lips were naturally red without makeup, and her flawless, fair cheeks revealed a faint pink from the inside out.

Just a single glance provided a visual and tactile satisfaction, making it hard to imagine how delicate and warm her skin would feel under the palm of a hand.

Such a breathtaking beauty; no wonder even his arrogant younger brother could not resist.

"General, we are almost at the city gate." The other team of attendants, split into two routes, had not yet caught up, and the soldier leading the way in front did not know what to do.

If their small group encountered an unexpected situation, it would be difficult to ensure the General's safety. However, waiting in place to regroup would waste a great deal of time.

Right in the midst of this silence, a crowd of shoving elderly people piled up at the city gate, momentarily blocking the way.

Qi Yu emerged from the carriage carrying the unconscious Qingwu, meeting head-on a cold wind swirling with air currents. Even the crisp branches could not withstand the onslaught of the violent wind and snapped one after another.

He turned back to fetch the thickest cloak from the carriage, wrapping her tightly and securely before mounting his horse and riding in the middle of the procession.

"What is going on?" The restless agitation in his heart was like a roaring bonfire; no matter how he tried to soothe it, he could not extinguish that momentum.

Seeing his stiff expression, the subordinate spoke with a cautious tone, "I heard they are relatives of soldiers who died in the war. They've gathered here to make a scene and demand justice, and they've blocked the road."

An idea struck Qi Yu. He leaned down and gave a few brief instructions.

The subordinate repeatedly praised the idea as brilliant, inwardly admiring that the General's wits were indeed much more flexible than theirs.

The primary task at hand was to spread the true identity of the Second Young Master as the leader of the punitive army. These commoners would inevitably entangle themselves with him, which could buy them a significant amount of time.

"Leave half of the men here, and the rest will come out of the city with me." Qi Yu would not sit and wait for death, nor would he pin his hopes of stopping Pei Muci on a group of foolish commoners.

At most, he would use this as an excuse to make the soldiers inside the city let them leave, and then quickly close the city gate and pull up the drawbridge over the moat.

Perhaps accustomed to the foreign travelers coming and going within the city, the city guards were used to the bizarrely dressed caravan. Coupled with the hefty bribe Qi Yu paid for the passage fee, these men did not give them a hard time. After a brief inspection of the travel permits, they prepared to let the few riders embark on their long journey.

Yet, just as there was movement, the crowd crammed at the gate surged forward.

Helpless, the soldiers could only continuously push back the approaching commoners, drawing gleaming weapons before barely managing to maintain control of the situation and laboring to open the city gate.

The chilly wind rushed in through the widened gap, pouring directly into the collars of their clothes and numbing them with cold.

"Out of the city!" Qi Yu lowered his voice so the city guards would not overhear.

A fallen leaf, drifting from who knows where, happened to land right on Qingwu's cheek.

Finding it peculiar, Qi Yu gently brushed away the hair by her ear, sweeping the debris into the gaps of his fingers.

It turned out to be a red-hearted wintersweet blossom with unopened stamens.

The delicate petals unfolded completely beneath her eye, making her fair and radiant skin appear even more translucent. It was hard to tell whether the flower was more beautiful than the person, or the person more captivating than the flower.

It was in this world that Qingwu slowly opened her eyes, revealing the undisguised, profound coldness deep within her pupils.

"Awake?" Qi Yu showed no surprise at her reaction. "We are about to leave the city."

Qingwu ignored him, struggling slightly. "It's too tight, uncomfortable."

Perhaps her docility pleased Qi Yu, for he actually relaxed his arm strength, easing his grip to hold her.

After all, she was only wearing a single layer of silk undergarment, and all her warmth came from the men's cloak wrapped around her. If she wished to escape by this means, she would be trampling upon her own reputation in broad daylight.

Pulling out both hands, Qingwu grabbed the fox-fur trim extending from the fastening cords. Catching her breath for a moment, she raised her hand and lunged toward the eye level of the man in front of her.

The internal energy Pei Muci had transferred to her had mostly recovered, and combined with her vicious moves, she would be hard to fend off if one were not paying attention.

Yet Qi Yu had been keeping a close eye on the person in his arms. The moment she struck, he violently jerked the reins, causing the horse's neck to rear high, which threw off the accuracy of her strike.

He tilted his head slightly and narrowly dodged it.

Who could have guessed that Qingwu's intention was not to injure him at all, but rather to grab the cord behind his head as he dodged.

With a gentle tug, the silver mask slipped from his face.

"!" Qingwu shrank back.

The face behind the mask was one she had never imagined.

"Yuan Xi?!"

As agile as she was, even she was dazed for a moment upon seeing this face.

Long eyebrows and phoenix eyes, handsome features and delicate bones—under the instantaneous visual impact, this appearance was almost identical to that of Pei Muci.

At the same time, the sound of rolling hooves echoed from within the city gate behind them, kicking up billowing clouds of yellow sand. The sheer volume and speed indicated a vast number of people.

Qi Yu had no time to attend to this side. He gripped the reins tightly, even his whip-cracking movements carrying a fierce intensity.

Being just a step away from crossing the moat, he could not afford to slow down by even a second.

Yet within those fractions of a second, Qingwu quickly recovered. Although the man before her bore an extremely familiar face, she knew he was not Pei Muci.

The drawbridge at the edge of the city was pulled up at the wire's edge, unable to be lowered again in a short time, which meant they had finally shaken off the trailing pursuers.

Filled with the joy of surviving a catastrophe, Qi Yu forgot to suppress his laughter.

That group moved extremely fast, appearing and disappearing like ghosts. Had he not understood Pei Muci well enough, and had he not been driven by the anxiety in his heart, he might have fallen into their hands by now.

At this thought, Qi Yu felt in a very good mood. Watching Qingwu's expression gradually recover, he could not resist teasing, "What a clever little kitten."

Pity that a cat was ultimately just a plaything added for amusement; no matter what, it could never jump out of its master's palm.

Perhaps Qingwu had been momentarily stunned just a moment ago, but now she was already pondering the reason why the two men looked so alike.

Pei Muci had once told her about the Emperor perishing on the city wall and promised to prove it to her once they reached the capital.

Was he referring to someone having a face identical to his own?

If someone had told Qingwu such a thing prior to this, she would have found it absurd. Now, had she not witnessed it with her own eyes, she still could not believe that two people could share such a striking resemblance.

Both of their faces were as exquisitely drawn as paintings, and they certainly shared blood of the same origin. Fortunately, however, the one she had chosen from the beginning was Pei Muci.

Although she had not interacted much with Qi Yu, the aura he exuded made one extremely uncomfortable.

Ever since the palace banquet where they first met, when his hawk-like gaze swept over every inch of her, she could not suppress the wave of nausea even while drinking fruit wine.

"I didn't expect him to even tell you his courtesy name. He certainly treats you differently," Qi Yu sneered, the corners of his mouth twitching as his expression twisted.

Of course he knew what kind of temperament Pei Muci had. Having endured such harsh tempering in the past without a sound, even he used to think Pei Muci's blood must be cold, devoid of warmth.

Yet that brat had actually placed his heart upon this piece of warm jade before him.

Qi Yu made a clicking sound with his tongue. But who told him to take a fancy to Rong Zhao as well?

Otherwise, he really could have tested just how far his younger brother would compromise for this.

Qingwu paid no heed to whatever words spilled from his mouth. Amidst her shock, she could only wonder how there could be two such similar people in the world.

When she saw her father draw his sword and cut his own throat beneath the city wall, she had caught sight of the man below and, without much consideration, subconsciously assumed he was Pei Muci.

Yet, how did two people with identical faces develop such worlds-apart temperaments?

Recalling the various long and short scars covering Pei Muci's body, Qingwu felt a throbbing headache.

The poison in his body remained unresolved, and he had even split his internal energy in half for her. She wondered if his riddled body would be able to endure the next venom flare.

Calculating by the previous monthly interval, there was likely not much time left before the next outbreak.

Under such circumstances, he was still thinking of bringing her back to the capital to clear up the misunderstandings, and had even written blessings on a Kongming lantern hoping for her long years of peace.

Clearly, the one who needed such blessings was him.

Qingwu sighed, a sour ache welling up in her heart as she bit down hard on her lower lip to force her tears back.

Wait.

He had previously said that returning to Bianjing would verify everything, which meant Qi Yu should have originally been imprisoned in the celestial dungeon.

Why had he appeared in this place?

And how had he probed her location so clearly, effortlessly kidnapping her from an ordinary inn where she stayed?

Did this mean he had been targeting Pei Muci from the very beginning?

The dusk lowered, fusing heaven and earth together, blurring the horizon as torches were lit upon the city towers.

"General! Look out!"

A soldier closest to Qi Yu lunged forward, an arrow piercing directly through the center of his forehead, sending him tumbling off his horse lifelessly.

Meanwhile, as if sensing something, Qingwu suddenly turned her head.

The dark figure atop the wall seemed to merge with the darkening sky. The golden patterns on his dark, wide robes fluttered in the wind, and the dragon embroidery woven from fine threads seemed to flutter and take flight amidst the swirling wind.

His spine stood as straight as a towering mountain, and his abyss-like pupils locked tightly onto the distance. The once refined contours of his face gradually tightened, flashing with dangerous chill within the deep night.

Seeing him looking so pale, Qingwu almost wept.

Observing his abnormal state, Qi Yu seemed to have spotted something amusing. He curved his lips slightly and instead of retreating, advanced.

"Young Master Pei, a miss is as good as a mile."

The city walls here were built exceptionally high, serving solely defensive functions and lacking the integrated offense-and-defense design of Quzhou.

Moreover, the raging sandstorms of the northern border city prevented the use of ordinary thick timber for city gates; the sturdy stone gates and the chain bridge over the moat could not be operated twice in such a short span.

Grasping this exact point, Qi Yu was wildly arrogant, spinning his horse around without hesitation and grabbing Qingwu by the neck to use her as a human shield in front.

Pei Muci gripped the arrow string tightly, his fingertips oozing blood from holding the tension for too long. His gentle demeanor was gradually swallowed by a razor-sharp murderous intent, chilling anyone who drew near.

Qingwu was pinned at the waist from behind, unable to move a muscle. Qi Yu's laughter was frantic, his grip growing heavier—a blatant, unmasked provocation.

"Come on, let me witness Young Master Pei's archery."