After a great victory at the border, envoys from the Northern Rong arrived in the capital to request peace talks. The tense atmosphere caused by the war finally eased, and even the sky above Tokyo became much clearer.

Emperor Cheng'an intended to continue the friendly alliance with the new Northern Rong king, so in early March, he specially hosted a banquet to warmly entertain the Northern Rong envoys.

After the Great Wei also showed its willingness to negotiate, the King of the Northern Rong, in order to show that he valued it, sent his younger sister Yelü Nanxian as an envoy to the Great Wei, even though he could not attend in person.

Yelü Nanxian is only twenty years old, with striking good looks and a bold and unrestrained personality, and has attracted a lot of attention in Tokyo these days.

When they entered the palace for the banquet, Shen Youying and Xue Shen also talked about the Northern Rong princess, saying, "I heard that Princess Yelü is good at dancing and has a free and unrestrained personality. Yesterday, she danced casually in the Red Chamber, which attracted countless young men to cheer. I heard that the clothing shops outside have started to make the dresses she wore for dancing."

Xue Shen said, "The Northern Rong people are quite ambitious. However, the Northern Rong King only sent Yelü Nanxian to negotiate this time. One reason is to dispel our suspicions, and the other is that this Yelü Nanxian may look like just a bright and fun-loving girl, but in reality, she is both literate and martial, and very resourceful. The reason why the Northern Rong King was able to rise to power so quickly is inseparable from her help."

Shen Youying had never heard of this before, and she frowned, saying, "Then this peace talk may not go too smoothly."

Xue Shen nodded: "Let's wait and see. This palace banquet is unlikely to be peaceful."

The two entered the hall hand in hand, and saw that the guests had already arrived one after another. As members of the imperial family, Xue Shen and Shen Youying were seated near the front, and the Northern Rong people were sitting diagonally opposite them.

Yelü Nanxian spotted the two people from afar and asked his ministers in the Northern Rong language, "Who are those two people?"

The envoy had already gathered a general understanding of the imperial family, nobles, and high-ranking officials in the capital in recent days. Upon hearing this, he whispered, "That is the Prince of Qin and his wife. The Prince of Qin is the son of Emperor Taizong of Wei. I heard that he was lame in both legs before, which is why Emperor Taizong passed the throne to the current emperor. But recently, he somehow cured his legs. Popular rumors say that he found a deity who cured him with magic."

Yelü Nanxian showed interest upon hearing this. Naturally, she didn't believe such rumors. After a brief analysis, she understood the undercurrents between the Prince of Qin and the current emperor. She curled her lips and shifted her gaze to Shen Youying: "Where is the Princess Consort of Qin? Such an outstanding beauty must have some background."

The envoy continued, "The Princess Consort of Qin is Shen Mingjiang's second daughter."

Yelü Nanxian understood immediately, but was very puzzled: "Shen Mingjiang is a fierce general of the Great Wei. Why would the current emperor marry his daughter to the Prince of Qin?"

In her opinion, the emperor should have allowed his son to marry Shen Mingjiang's daughter.

The envoy briefly recounted the events surrounding the Shen family, saying, "This is probably why the Emperor of Great Wei is so eager to negotiate peace with us."

Yelü Nanxian laughed with increasing interest, swirling her wine cup as she said, "Brother previously hoped that I would agree to the marriage alliance to stall Great Wei and give them more time to prepare, but I disliked the weak and foolish men of Great Wei and was unwilling. However, now, I can consider it."

Upon hearing this, the envoy asked, "What does the princess mean?"

Yelü Nanxian said, "I'll find some fun along the way and stir up this water even more for them."

While the two were talking, Shen Youying and Xue Shen had already taken their seats.

The banquet was filled with fine wines, but Shen Youying was pregnant and naturally could not drink alcohol. Just as she was thinking of a reason to get the lady-in-waiting to replace the wine with tea, she heard Xue Shen say, "Remove the wine. I should not drink alcohol recently."

Upon hearing this, the female official quickly removed the wine from the table and, a moment later, replaced it with a freshly brewed pot of hot tea.

Xue Shen picked up the teapot and poured tea for Shen Youying. She suppressed a laugh and lowered her voice, saying, "Although your reputation is a bit bad, it's really useful."

At the palace banquet, people drank tea, but no one dared to ask any questions.

Xue Shen handed her the tea and chuckled, "It's a pity that Zhao Zhao has already seen through it; it has no intimidating power whatsoever."

Shen Youying glanced at him, then slowly sipped her tea.

The two sat for a short while before Emperor Cheng'an arrived and officially announced the start of the banquet.

Banquets for entertaining foreign envoys are nothing more than the same few things: fine wine, delicious food, songs, and dances.

As a group of dancers, with their waists lifted and their toes tiptoeing, twirled like serpents to the center of the hall, Yelü Nanxian stood up, holding a wine cup, and said, "The dances of the Great Wei are too gentle and rather bland. Why don't I make a fool of myself and let Your Majesty witness the dances of the Northern Rong?"

Yelü Nanxian's words were somewhat inappropriate, but she was a woman, and a rather beautiful one at that. Surprisingly, no one present felt anything was wrong with them. They simply thought that women from the grasslands were indeed different from women from the Great Wei, as fiery as flames.

Emperor Cheng'an had also heard that Yelü Nanxian had performed a spectacular dance at the Red Pavilion yesterday, and upon hearing this, he clapped his hands and said, "Approved."

Yelü Nanxian put down her wine cup, took off her outer robe, and twirled into the center of the hall wearing only a gorgeous dancing dress adorned with gold ornaments.

She is voluptuous and extremely bold. When she dances, her body is full of power. She does not appear to be flattering. Instead, people are amazed by her agility and strength.

"Do you have a sword?" she asked, slowing down after a few rapid spins.

Emperor Cheng'an looked at the guards in the hall, and was about to ask them to hand her the sword when Yelü Nanxian spun forward at an extremely fast speed and suddenly drew the sword from the guard's waist.

The sword was drawn, producing a clanging sound that startled everyone.

Amidst the gasps of amazement, Yelü Nanxian leaned back to her limit, touched the ground with the tip of her sword, and landed gracefully in the center with a backflip.

Some people had already figured it out and realized that this Princess Yelü was quite skilled in martial arts.

Xue Shenyi looked at Yelü Nanxian, his brows furrowing slightly. He put down his teacup and said in a low voice, "The visitor is not friendly."

No sooner had she finished speaking than Yelü Nanxian ended her dance. Without even panting, she looked around at everyone present and, imitating the etiquette of the Great Wei, said to Emperor Cheng'an, "Your Majesty, I have heard that the Great Wei has a chivalrous spirit and is known for its swordsmanship. Would you be so kind as to let me witness it?"

This means he wants to find someone to spar with.

The Great Wei was conquered on horseback, and although it has been emphasizing literature and suppressing martial arts in recent years, the Six Arts of aristocratic young men have not been completely abandoned. Upon hearing Yelü Nanxian's words, many young men skilled in swordsmanship were eager to try their hand at it.

Emperor Cheng'an didn't take it too seriously. After all, Yelü Nanxian was a woman, and no matter how outstanding she was, she couldn't possibly defeat a man.

Thinking this, he looked at the young men present and asked, "Is there anyone willing to volunteer to spar with Princess Yelü?"

"Your subject is willing to fight!"

Immediately, a young man volunteered and entered the arena with his sword.

The others were not as quick to react as he was; when they saw him clasp his hands in greeting to Yelü Nanxian, they all looked regretful.