Xiao Nanhui closed her eyes for a moment.
She did not fall asleep, for she could not afford to. Although they had temporarily escaped the pursuit of the Bai clan, the road ahead was fraught with uncertainty. Until they reunited with the main Tiancheng army, she had to maintain the utmost vigilance.
And so, she merely kept her eyes shut.
With the distraction of sight removed, she found it easier to concentrate her other senses.
The air smelled of damp sand and soil, mingled with a bitter, cold fragrance emanating from the string of sarira beads on the man’s wrist. She could hear her own breathing and heartbeat, as well as the steady rhythm of his breath; it felt as though they were the only two souls left in the world.
The outer edges of the campfire had died out, leaving only a small flame flickering in the center. The charred wood, eroded by the melting snow, let out a sodden creak. The snow continued to fall, the tiny ice crystals clinking softly against one another.
A wind blew from afar, wailing and sobbing like a crying child.
Xiao Nanhui snapped her eyes open.
No, that wasn't the wind.
She pressed herself as close to the ground as possible, listening intently to distinguish the sound.
Sure enough, the sobbing abruptly vanished, only to reappear moments later, sounding much closer.
She sprang up, quickly extinguished the fire, and hurried back to the man’s side. Pushing his shoulder gently, she lowered her voice. "Your Majesty, wake up."
The man sat up after only a moment’s pause; he, too, had not been sound asleep. "What has happened?"
Xiao Nanhui was rapidly gathering their scattered belongings, kicking over the small stone wall she had built earlier to break its silhouette. "I don't know. Perhaps a wolf pack, perhaps something else."
The man stood up, watching her busy figure with an air of unhurried calm. "I heard that General Dianwu was once surrounded by tigers and leopards in the wild. He fought them single-handedly and captured two of the beasts alive."
"General Dianwu is mighty and magnificent! This servant is full of admiration!" She offered a perfunctory cupped-fist salute while her feet remained busy, stomping out the last glowing embers of the campfire.
"Previously at Sanmu Pass, Weixiang also slew several jackals alone. It took him no longer than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."
She was already huffing as she used the end of her weapon, Pingxian, to dig a hole in the ground to bury the leftover bones of the yellow sheep. Without looking back, she replied dismissively, "Brother Ding is truly worthy of his reputation—superb martial arts, the very image of a great hero!"
"I still remember the autumn hunt two years ago..."
She finally couldn't listen anymore and spun around. "Your Majesty, your generals are all valiant and mighty; this servant admits defeat. My skills are mediocre, and I am currently cold and starving. I truly have no desire to engage in hand-to-hand combat with a pack of wolves. Please, show some mercy to your subordinate and speak no more."
She was truly becoming anxious, her bold brows knitting together in a look of genuine exasperation.
The man dropped his teasing act and stood up obediently. "I was only joking. Are you angry?"
*Joking? Since when were you the type to tell jokes? Besides, in a situation like this, you still have the heart for it?*
Xiao Nanhui took a deep breath and forced a smile. "What are you saying, Your Majesty? How could I possibly..."
Before she could finish her explanation, her ears caught the faint, rhythmic sound of breathing.
"Shh."
She clamped a hand over his mouth and led him stealthily away from the campsite. After walking dozens of paces, she stopped and pulled him down to crouch on the ground.
She had noticed earlier that the terrain here had a hidden depression that was impossible to see unless one was right upon it. Their current position was downwind, which would help mask their scent.
The sound of the creature drew closer, accompanied by the faint scratching of claws against the earth.
Her heart leaped into her throat. A moment later, a figure half the height of a man emerged slowly through the wind and snow.
It was a grey wolf with bristling fur and bared, salivating teeth. Its four paws were caked with sand and snow, as if it had traveled a great distance or had been digging through something. It kept its head low, sniffing the ground as it paced forward slowly. When it reached the remains of the campfire, it stopped and began to scratch at the earth with its forepaws, eventually dragging out a strip of cloth.
It was the blood-stained bandage she had discarded after dressing the Emperor's wound.
Xiao Nanhui’s heart sank.
She had considered this possibility, but a wolf’s sense of smell was even more acute than a common hound's; she hadn't wanted to risk carrying the bloody cloth with them.
The wolf continued to sniff around. She waited, but no other wolves appeared, and her heart eased slightly. If it was just one wolf, she was confident she could kill it.
But then, a strange thought occurred to her. This wasn't the season for wolves to breed, so there shouldn't be a lone wolf that had failed to find a mate. On the contrary, this was the harshest time in the Southwest desert; all wolves should be huddling together in packs to survive. They would not easily leave the group.
She thought back to the half-eaten yellow sheep they had found, and a strong premonition gripped her.
Suddenly, the faint sound of a bell drifted through the wind. She saw the wolf freeze, lift its head, and let out a howl toward the night sky.
On that upturned wolf’s head, a strange symbol painted in blood was clearly visible—the exact same mark she had seen on Su Pingchuan’s black horse.
The long howl cut off abruptly. As if answering a summons, the wolf turned and departed in the direction it had come.
It was gone, but it would surely return.
Perhaps with a pack, or perhaps with an unknown enemy.
The Bai clan’s assassination attempt on the throne was far from over; the most dangerous moment had yet to arrive. The horn for Tiancheng’s general offensive had sounded the moment the Tianmu River breached its banks, but now that she was separated from the main camp, she had no way of knowing if Xiao Zhun had already advanced into Yanxi City. Naturally, she could not predict whether the path ahead was safe or perilous.
Xiao Nanhui crawled out from their hiding spot and looked toward the northwest.
"Your Majesty, from now on, we must travel by night and hide by day. Before dawn, we must find a place to conceal ourselves."
He didn't speak, only nodding slightly.
Xiao Nanhui took his hand solemnly, gripping it firmly in her palm. "Do not let go of my hand."
Beasts tracked by scent, so she first moved downwind before choosing the shortest shortcut to cross the last stretch of the Gobi desert.
They should have reached the outskirts of the ancient city of Yanxi by now. It would take about half a day’s journey to leave this exposed land. Although dawn was approaching, the sky remained gloomy due to the snow. She couldn't even see the contours of the land clearly and had to rely on the direction of the wind to judge their orientation.
She could no longer trek as slowly as before; she was practically dragging the man along as they sprinted. When they encountered ravines or obstacles, she would hoist him onto her back and leap across. When they met steep downward slopes, she didn't slow down, instead using the terrain to scramble and slide down.
She could hear the heavy gasping of the man behind her, but she couldn't stop. She didn't even have time to turn back and offer a brief word of comfort; she could only do her best to pull him forward, and forward...
Finally, she saw the silhouette of what looked like hills.
According to her previous estimates, even with her best efforts, reaching the ancient city of Yanxi would still take nearly half a day on foot. This meant the hills before them were not the city. However, the sun was about to rise, and they were no longer in a desolate wasteland devoid of life. If they continued to move across the open desert, the consequences would be disastrous if they were spotted by the enemy.
By the pale light of dawn, she finally saw the appearance of the hills. They currently possessed a bizarre, deep red hue, standing out starkly against the pale desert floor.
She recalled a note she had read in the *Tiancheng Gazetteer* before leaving Que City: *Ten-odd li south of the ancient city of Yanxi, there are several wind-eroded mounds. They appear dark violet at sunrise, pale blue when the sun is high, and purple at sunset. They are known of old as the Painted Mounds.*
If these were indeed the Painted Mounds, then once they passed through them, they would reach the ancient city of Yanxi, which bordered Sanmu Pass. The Tiancheng army would march through there in a matter of days, and her "fugitive life" with the Emperor would come to a successful end.
The day she would see Xiao Zhun again was not far off.
At this thought, Xiao Nanhui’s spirits rose. Even the hardship of sleeping on ice for days and having no food seemed less unbearable.
The sun finally rose, and the snow seemed to let up slightly as the world brightened. Xiao Nanhui settled Fu Wei in a secluded mountain hollow and took Pingxian to scout ahead, hoping to find some food and water before they reached their destination.
Previously, she had been too focused on traveling to observe the surrounding geography. Now that she was walking through it, she found it quite miraculous.
The rock walls were no longer a dull, pale yellow. Instead, they were a medley of varying shades of purple, ochre, crimson, and orange, layered like silk ribbons stretching across the mounds. This was likely why the colors shifted into three distinct phases as the sun rose and set and the light changed.
Such a peculiar sight seemed out of place in a barren land like Suyan. Or perhaps, she had simply never stopped to look closely before; only now, with the intent to observe, did she notice the difference.
It was a strange thing. Given their current circumstances, she shouldn't have been in the mood to admire the scenery.
Following the valley along the edge of the mounds, she found that the ground was not as hard and coarse as it was outside the pass. Instead, it was covered in a thick layer of sand. This forced her to be even more careful, clearing her tracks as she went.
The rocky mounds all looked identical, giving one the illusion of walking in circles. She didn't dare leave markers for fear of being tracked, so she stopped every hundred paces to observe the terrain and commit it to memory.
Back in Bijiang, in order to regularly send topographical information to the Tiancheng rear, she had often slipped out of the villages alone for half a day at a time. She had traversed those forests, islets, wildernesses, and shingle beaches countless times. Over time, she had naturally developed the ability to memorize routes. It was thanks to that experience that she was so adept at this now.
Even so, she didn't intend to wander too far. The day would soon be in full light, and she was truly uneasy about leaving the man alone for too long.
The winding paths between the mounds gradually opened up, and small, thorny shrubs began to appear on the rock walls. she knew she was likely entering a small depression. In such a dry place, only low-lying areas surrounded by hills could collect moisture. It was the dry, cold season, so she didn't have much hope of finding open water, but she knew such places were often gathering spots for small animals. If she was lucky, she could catch something to eat, and they could hold out until they reached the city.
She felt her way forward along the somewhat damp ground. There were footprints left by passing animals; she examined them carefully and found no wolf tracks, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.
Just then, a flash of brownish-yellow darted past—so fast it looked like a small clump of sand blown by the wind.
Xiao Nanhui’s eyes sharpened. She rubbed them quickly, but the brownish-yellow blur had vanished.
She had an idea. Moving her feet cautiously, she removed a small, pale metal plate from her person. It was a piece of the vambrace from her Guangyao Armor that had broken off when they crossed the chasm. It still shone with a bright silver-white luster; she had been using it to start fires lately, putting it to good use.
She extended the plate slightly, using the weak sunlight to cast a spot of light on the ground.
As she moved the plate, the spot of light scurried across the sandy earth before stopping on a patch of ground not far away, shimmering like light reflecting off water.
Sure enough, after a short while, a furry head poked out from behind a rock. Its nimble ears twitched as it listened for movement before it cautiously extended half its whiskers.
It was a plump sand-marmot. It must have ducked into its burrow just now, which was why it had disappeared.
These marmots were not uncommon in Suyan, but they were rarely a meal for desert travelers. The reason was simple: they were incredibly cunning and fast, and they rarely strayed far from their burrows. At the slightest sign of trouble, they would vanish underground in an instant. Sometimes, the energy spent catching one was more than the calories gained from eating ten; naturally, no one wanted to engage in such a thankless task.
But for Xiao Nanhui, this marmot wasn't that difficult to deal with.
When she was a child and had nothing to eat, she had learned how to catch rats from the older children. These creatures had a keen sense of smell but poor eyesight. When they saw something bright, they thought it was water. Sometimes, all it took was a piece of a broken bronze mirror to lure them out of their holes.
Now, she only needed to wait for the perfect moment to strike, and today’s meal would be secured.
At this thought, she excitedly flexed her fingers around Pingxian.
The yellowish ball of fur sniffed here and there, seemingly confused as to why it couldn't smell any moisture.
Just as it drew closer to the spot of light and Xiao Nanhui was about to strike, a thin, brilliant flash of light streaked past. She saw the marmot freeze instantly, then slowly split into two halves, blood soaking the ground.
At the same time, the rock beside the dead marmot abruptly split in two, sliced as cleanly as a block of tofu.
The shock and impact caused Xiao Nanhui to freeze mid-motion. Her eyes widened. She quickly pulled back the metal plate and crouched low, peering out slowly from behind her hiding rock.
The silent, sandy ground showed no moving objects; only the pool of blood continued to spread slowly.
After a long time, a cold voice rang out.
"What was that for? It was just a rat."
That voice was one she knew all too well.
Then, a thin, small figure stepped out from behind a rock a hundred meters away. His face looked even more gaunt than it had a month ago, his eye sockets deeply sunken. His entire being radiated a sinister aura that was completely at odds with his age. It was An Lü.
A dozen or so figures followed in his footsteps, each dressed in grey. Their heads were wrapped in the turbans commonly worn by desert travelers, but Xiao Nanhui couldn't help but notice the faces partially revealed beneath them.
Faces that were blurred and indistinct, like melting wax.
Everyone called them... the Puhuna.
Wu Xiaoliu’s words seemed to echo in her ears like a tolling bell, and her body felt as though it had turned to stone, unable to move.
She still remembered the first time she had encountered these assassins. At that time, she had known nothing about them and was thus fearless. Now, not only did she know of the cruel and sinister deeds they had committed, but she also had a fatal weakness by her side.
"The wolves are never wrong. I did indeed see their tracks nearby. Given their pace, they couldn't have gone far. They must be around here somewhere."
She couldn't tell which of those faces the speaker was, but she saw a man with a bell tied to his wrist step forward.
The sound of the bell was dull, as if it had been soaked in rain for years and had rusted solid, but she didn't dare let her guard down. When she was in Bijiang, she had seen the Great Shamans there wearing such bells. They called them "Lingduo"—Spirit Bells. Legend had it that when the gods fell to the mortal realm, they used these bells to sense one another. Later, these bells found their way into the Nanqiang tribes and became ritual instruments for communicating with spirits.
Perhaps the Bai clan was using this method to scout and monitor their movements through the eyes of birds and beasts.
"Where are they?!" An Lü kicked the bisected marmot carcass away, his tone brimming with irritability. "Didn't you say the Emperor only had one woman with him? And yet we still can't catch them?"
The Puhuna was not angered by the reprimand; or perhaps their voices were simply devoid of all emotion and inflection. "This is a no-man's land. In a place like this, finding two people is harder than finding an entire army."
A cold wind blew through the valley, and Xiao Nanhui couldn't help but shiver.
The Puhuna who had just spoken suddenly tilted his head back, as if catching a scent in the wind. He made a silencing gesture to An Lü, then pressed his entire body flat against the ground, closing his eyes to listen.
Xiao Nanhui held her breath; even the slight trembling of her eyelashes terrified her.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead and was about to drip. She acted quickly, catching the drop in her palm. The moisture soaked into her skin silently.
Finally, the man slowly climbed up from the ground and shook his head at An Lü.
"I heard nothing. It seems they aren't nearby."
An Lü’s expression grew even darker. He didn't speak, only repeatedly stroking something in his hand, appearing anxious and restless.
Xiao Nanhui noticed his movement and stared intently at the object. She was too far away and didn't dare move too much, but she could vaguely make out what looked like a slender-necked, vermilion bottle.
Before she could investigate further, An Lü ceased his movements, seemingly having made a decision.
"No rush. As long as they haven't entered the city, they are bound to pass through here." His gaze swept over the surrounding mounds. "Go to the highest point nearby. Unless they don't eat, drink, or move, there will eventually be a sign."
With that, he turned and headed in another direction without looking back, and the dozen or so grey shadows followed him silently. The group was like a pack of lonely ghosts wandering the hills, vanishing in an instant.
Xiao Nanhui waited until she could no longer hear any sound before slowly stepping out from behind the rock. The world had returned to a deathly silence. If not for the marmot carcass on the ground, she would have almost believed nothing had happened.
She took a deep breath and sprinted back to where she had left the Emperor, following the route in her memory. But when she searched left and right and couldn't find him, she broke into a panicked sweat.
She didn't dare shout, only calling out in a low, urgent whisper, "Your Majesty? Your Majesty..."
After a long while, she saw a figure emerge slowly from the shadows behind a rock.
She let out a long sigh of relief and hurried over, Pingxian in hand.
"Your Majesty, you gave me quite a scare! I thought you were gone..."
The man didn't speak. He raised his sleeve and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Xiao Nanhui was stunned by the gesture and forgot to dodge. By the time she reacted, his hand had already pulled away.
"The sun has come up and lit up the ground. My clothes are too conspicuous here," he explained calmly, pointing to the place where he had been hiding. "That spot was just right; I could see you passing by from there."
She nodded, still feeling the lingering dread of her recent encounter.
"Your Majesty, we must find a place to hide first. When it gets dark, I will go out again to see if there is any news of the Tiancheng army."
"Very well," he replied briefly, watching her quietly like an obedient child waiting for instructions.
Faced with such a gaze, she felt an unprecedented pressure. It was as if she would fail his absolute trust if she could not make a sound arrangement.
After racking her brains and staring at the multicolored rock walls for a long time, she finally realized that the terrain here looked familiar. A vague memory from her past finally surfaced.
"The Painted Mounds" was an ancient name; few in Suyan called it that nowadays. That was why she had initially thought she was here for the first time and hadn't thought any further.
She grasped that thought and pondered it carefully, a conclusion gradually forming in her mind.
"Your Majesty, I know a place. Perhaps we can take shelter there for a while."
***
