Xue Tingxue’s fingers gripping the reins tightened, her knuckles turning pale.
She stared at the man who had vaulted off his black flaming horse and stood firmly on the ground.
He walked over step by step, each stride feeling as if it were landing on one’s heartbeat.
The three hundred black-armored cavalry behind him remained motionless; both men and horses seemed to have merged into the mountain range in the night.
That silent killing intent was more suffocating than any clamor.
"You..." Xue Tingxue’s throat felt a bit dry.
Fu Tingyuan walked to the front of her horse and looked up at her, his facial features sharp and distinct under the moonlight.
"Startled?" he asked.
Xue Tingxue twitched the corner of her mouth, but she couldn't manage a smile.
"This 'Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell' trick of yours, Prince, is quite a grand play. For ten years, you have deceived everyone in the world."
Fu Tingyuan reached out, not to help her down, but to grip her reins directly.
"Deceiving the people of the world is easy," he said, looking into her eyes. "Deceiving you is harder."
He said nothing more and vaulted onto his horse with a crisp and neat movement.
"Keep up. The wind of the Northern Border is harsher than the knives of the Capital City."
The dust on the official road was kicked up by the horses' hooves as the three hundred cavalrymen silently merged into Xue Tingxue’s caravan.
The wind and frost of the Northern Border were indeed as legendary as claimed; they scraped against the face like small knives.
It was the first time Xue Tingxue had seen this kind of military march.
There were no banners, no verbal orders, only hand signals.
Fu Tingyuan rode at the very front like a drawn saber, the rhythm of the entire troop moving in sync with his figure.
This was a true army.
This was the true face of Prince Ning'an, Fu Tingyuan, which she had never seen in her previous life.
Two days later, Luoyan Valley.
Rather than a valley, this place was more like a rift of death.
The air was filled with the stench of blood and decay.
A black-armored cavalryman galloped back, knelt on one knee, and spoke in a very low voice.
"Master, we found them. They are at the wind gap three li ahead, surrounded by a thousand-man unit of the Hu people."
Fu Tingyuan raised his hand, and the entire troop stopped instantly, blending into the shadows of the stones.
Xue Tingxue’s heart rose to her throat.
They stopped behind a hidden mountain wall, and Fu Tingyuan took a few guards to scout ahead.
Xue Tingxue followed behind, and she saw a scene she would never forget for the rest of her life.
At the wind gap of the valley, several hundred soldiers wearing Great Xuan military uniforms were backed against the rocks, forming a crumbling defensive formation.
Many of them were wounded, their lips dry and cracked, their faces covered in a mixture of frostbite and bloodstains.
In the very center, a tall figure leaned on a spear, half of his body covered in blood.
Even so, his back remained straight.
It was Xue Zhen.
Xue Tingxue’s eye sockets turned red in an instant.
"Eldest Brother..." She was about to rush out when Fu Tingyuan pressed her down.
He pointed toward their own side, then pointed at several deputy generals in Xue Zhen’s troop who were currently lobbying the others.
"There is a traitor."
Xue Tingxue calmed down immediately, a cold glint flashing in her eyes as she looked at those deputy generals.
She pulled a small map from her bosom and handed it to a steward in her caravan.
"Find these people and tell them the prey is in the cage; it is time to close the net."
The steward nodded and disappeared into the night like a civet cat.
Xue Tingxue looked at Fu Tingyuan again.
Fu Tingyuan nodded at her, then turned around and made a single gesture to the black-armored cavalry behind him.
A gesture to charge forward.
The next second, three hundred cavalrymen surged out from behind the mountain wall like a flash flood!
They did not shout, only the sound of thundering hooves and spears piercing the wind remained.
The Hu people, who were in the midst of the siege, had not expected an enemy to appear from behind and were caught off guard in an instant.
Down in the valley, Xue Zhen, covered in blood, leaned against a stone; he hadn't closed his eyes for three days.
He watched the scene of slaughter in the distance, thinking he was hallucinating.
Then, he saw a figure in Begonia Red running toward him through the chaos.
"I... am I not dead yet? Is this a dream?"
Xue Tingxue ran to him and backhanded a pill into his mouth.
"Eldest Brother, stop sleeping! Your sister has brought good food to take you home!"
The elixir melted the moment it touched his tongue, and a warm current surged through his entire body.
Xue Zhen’s spirits lifted. He saw his sister’s face clearly, and then he saw the man not far away, who looked like a god of slaughter descended to earth.
His mouth opened, "Prince Ning'an... isn't he..."
"I'll explain later," Xue Tingxue said, supporting him. "Let's clean house first."
Fu Tingyuan didn't use any conspiracies or tricks at all.
He led his guards and charged straight into the chaotic ranks of Xue Zhen’s men like a red-hot knife cutting through butter.
Those deputy generals who were inciting the soldiers to surrender hadn't even reacted before an ice-cold saber was at their necks.
"Spare us, Your Highness Prince Ning'an!"
Fu Tingyuan didn't even look at them, his hand moving with his blade.
Only then did everyone realize that this Prince who had been "paralyzed" for many years was actually the ceiling of Great Xuan’s combat power.
This battle not only rescued Xue Zhen but also took the opportunity to surround the elite Hu unit.
Xue Tingxue directed the doctors and shop assistants she had brought in the rear, using homemade medicinal liquid and strong liquor to clean the wounds of the soldiers.
"This one, the wound is too deep, use this powder to stop the bleeding first!"
"That one, the leg is broken, bring a wooden board to fix it in place!"
She gave orders in an orderly fashion, making the previously chaotic field hospital instantly organized.
Those soldiers who had survived the disaster looked at this Eldest Miss with eyes full of admiration.
The title of "Chief Battlefield Nurse" spread just like that.
The news was sent back to the Capital City by a fast horse with a whip.
At the victory banquet in the Palace, Fu Nanli had already prepared a moving eulogy, ready to perform well in front of the Emperor.
As it turned out, what he waited for was not the bad news of Xue Zhen’s death, but an 800-li urgent dispatch of a great victory.
"Report—a great victory at the Northern Border! Young General Xue Zhen crushed the Hu people at Luoyan Valley, and Prince Ning'an personally arrived at the Front Line and beheaded the enemy general!"
The Eunuch’s shrill voice resounded throughout the Great Hall.
Fu Nanli’s expression control failed instantly; he was so shocked that he choked on a mouthful of wine, nearly performing a stunt of swallowing his wine cup on the spot.
What did he hear?
Prince Ning'an? He stood up?
The moon over the Northern Border was big and round.
On the mountain peak that had just been captured, the banner of Great Xuan was planted.
Fu Tingyuan and Xue Tingxue sat side by side on a stone.
He pointed at the vast landscape under the moonlight.
"These legs of mine have deceived the people of the world for ten years. You are the second person to know, besides myself."
Xue Tingxue was tearing at her dry rations and took a casual bite upon hearing this.
"Actually, with your 'refined demeanor' aura, Prince, if you had stood up earlier, the young ladies wanting to marry you would probably be lined up from the Capital City all the way to Xiliang."
Fu Tingyuan chuckled and turned his head to look at her.
He suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist that was holding the dry rations.
In Xue Tingxue’s stunned gaze, he lowered his head and planted a warm kiss on the back of her hand.
"I don't want anyone else."
He raised his eyes, his pitch black pupils reflecting the moonlight and her small figure.
"I have only taken a fancy to you, this wild cat with thorns."
As soon as he finished speaking, a black-armored cavalryman galloped from the foot of the mountain, interrupting this moment of peace.
"Master, Eldest Miss! A Secret Report from the Capital City!"
The cavalryman handed over a letter sealed with Sealing Wax.
Fu Tingyuan opened the letter, scanned it quickly, and his brows furrowed.
He handed the letter to Xue Tingxue.
Xue Tingxue took it and looked, her expression instantly turning cold.
The letter said that Xue Manman had gone mad in the Heavenly Prison.
In her delirium, she had said some shocking things.
She said she wasn't jealous of Xue Tingxue at all; everything she did was under the orders of her "Master."
And the Master she spoke of pointed in a direction no one had expected—the current Crown Prince, Fu Jing.
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