Chapter 108: Your Mother

Because it is close to the border between the two countries and there is no one living there, we have to spend the night in the mountains.

Jinyun stood outside, clutching her blanket, squeezing past Zhao Xuanxu to sleep with Wen Yao. Wen Yao flung open the tent curtains, hung up an insect repellent sachet, and lay down with her, one hand behind her head, to gaze at the sky. Jinyun hummed a tune, weeding and weaving, the gentle melody lingering in her ears.

Wen Yao half-closed his eyes and suddenly said, "Your third brother and I will take you to Xingqing."

The third brother was Zhao Xuanxu, although Jinyun had never called him that. She paused and looked over: "...with Hao Chunhe?"

Some things shouldn't be shared by too many people. Wen Yao only considered, "Well, I'll give you a ride. Xingqing has spies from the Supervisory Office. I'll give you a list when the time comes. You can transfer them to your side. If you miss your mother or Tianshui, have them bring letters and other things."

Jinyun smiled and said, "Okay."

The next day, the border garrison arrived with a letter urging the Western Dynasty's wedding procession to arrive. Jinyun was pulled to her feet by a maid, looking rather pale. She covered her sleepy eyes as she washed and dressed. As the procession continued forward, the trees grew shorter, the grass and water more abundant. The surrounding wilderness stretched to the horizon, and in the distance, the valleys twisted up and down. The border garrison had already been waiting, their red tassels fluttering as they saluted Zhao Xuanxu and Jinyun in unison.

Wen Yao looked up and saw the earth shaking. Amidst the distant storm, a vast army of armored soldiers, their refined helmets covering their entire bodies, attacked with ferocity. The leading man, dressed in elegant black and red garb, had thick eyebrows, long eyes, a high nose, thin lips, and a slightly unruly air. He held a spear in his hand, pressed against his back. He reined in his horse and, looking past the crowd, first glanced at Zhao Xuanxu.

"Prince Yan," Li Youqi, the Second Prince of the Western Dynasty, said loudly, sizing up the black-robed man across from him. "I've heard of this brave general who destroyed the King of Tianshui Shu. He's a renowned figure, but upon meeting him today, he's not what I expected."

He then looked at Wen Yao and said arrogantly, "This must be the famous Xingyi Sword. I also have a swordsman on my payroll. I wonder when I can spar with you?"

In front of Prince Tianshui and the Princess Heqin, he reined in his horse and spoke without thinking, which was really rude.

Qianying took a step forward, a chill in her expression. The surrounding Feathered Guards immediately drew their swords, and the Western Dynasty's capture soldiers followed suit. The atmosphere instantly became tense. The attendants of the Ministry of Rites, who were carefully shielded by the two groups, were terrified of a fight between these reckless men. They kept poking their heads out, anxiously trying to speak.

At this moment, Jinyun kicked open the door of the wedding car, lowered her head and walked out with her hairpin in hand.

She stood on the carriage, supported by her maid, and looked up at Li Youqi. Her eyes were even more bold than Li Youqi's. She looked him up and down without any shyness or restraint, and said in a slightly raised tone: "Are you the second one?"

Second one?

What the hell is that name?

Wen Yao raised an eyebrow, and Li Youqi was stunned. He looked at Princess Tianshui, whom he had never taken seriously. Jinyun's etiquette nanny stood under the carriage, looking like she was about to faint.

"After we cross the border today, I will be your mother, your elder." Jinyun waved her hand, and a maid came forward with a brocade box. Opening it, she revealed a piece of fine jade, its radiant light evident in its priceless value. Slightly impatient, she sent the gift to Li Youqi, "In Tianshui, gifts are highly valued. Elders must give money to their juniors when they first meet them. Since you, of all the children, are the ones to pick me up, this jade is yours. Accept it."

Calling Jinyun "this palace" and "child" all the time, Li Youqi couldn't smile all of a sudden when he looked at Jinyun's young and beautiful face.

Xichao also had princesses, and he also had sisters, but they were all gentle and sensible, and none of them were as eloquent as Jinyun, as good as her... as good as her.

He paused for a moment and then said, "In that case, I will accept His Highness Jinyun's kindness."

"Okay, take it and don't just stand there. Let's go and rest in the city." Jinyun turned around, opened the curtain, and got back into the carriage. Her complaints reached Li Youqi's ears from afar: "I have a headache after sleeping in the tent all night."

Li Youqi's smile curled up, he looked around, and suddenly shouted, "Are you all deaf and didn't hear me? Let's go!"

The official from the Ministry of Rites, who had been stopped midway, wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurried forward to hand over to the Tianshui official. This marked the end of the bride's reception. The Feathered Guards were forbidden from crossing the border and stopped here, leaving the bride's escort, carrying the enormous dowry, to Xingqing, the capital of the Western Dynasty.

The capture troops began to retreat. As they left, Wen Yao immediately reined in her horse and turned back, leading the Feathered Guards back to a secluded spot. She pulled clothes and a human skin mask from the carriage and tossed them to Zhao Xuanxu and Hao Chunhe. Qianying clapped her hands, and a man, a woman, and an old man emerged from the secret guards, their appearance and figures identical to Wen Yao and the other two.

Wen Yao had seen this kind of disguise technique when she was in Yanling. Looking at the face that looked exactly like her, she bit her hairband and gave Qianying a thumbs up.

"Bianliang is in your hands." Wen Yao turned and mounted his horse, his brows stern, and waved his whip: "Let's go!"

The caravan Chu Yutang had arranged wasn't there, so the three of them rode to the nearest city before meeting the caravan leader. After Wen Yao presented the token, the caravan leader looked respectful and immediately handed over the fake identity and pass he had arranged.

Wen Yao opened it and saw that Hao Chunhe was the manager, Zhao Xuanxu was a tea and horse merchant, and she was Zhao Xuanxu's - sister?

She loosened her fingers, allowing Zhao Xuanxu to reach out and pull the papers away. Under the caravan leader's stunned gaze, Zhao Xuanxu crumpled up the official identification papers and tossed them aside. He reached into his sleeve and pulled out another stack of items. "This is from the Supervisory Commission," he said. "You and I, my husband and I, will take my father north to do business."

Wen Yao nodded repeatedly: "Okay, okay."

"Father?" Hao Chunhe scratched his head. "Then wouldn't I be on the same level as the emperor?"

"You're better than him." To get the Burning Heart Remnant from Zuo Fengjiang without alerting anyone and disrupting the situation, they would have to make careful arrangements after arriving in Xingqing. Wen Yao urged, "Don't delay, let's get going."

Xingqing lay to the south of the Western Dynasty, making the journey relatively easy. The caravan set out from the Tea Horse Road and headed north, successfully passing through various checkpoints. Within a few days, they arrived in Xingqing and settled down. The following day, under the gaze of the entire city, the bride-receiving party escorting Princess Tianshui finally arrived.

I guess Jinyun slowed me down.

Wen Yao followed the people of the Western Dynasty to the city gate to watch the excitement. Seeing Li Youqi riding on a tall horse with a gloomy face and none of the arrogance he had at the beginning, he knew that he had been troubled by Jinyun who demanded this and that and deliberately found fault with him along the way.

Seeing that Jinyun was fine, she took two steps back, quietly left the crowd, and returned to the Chamber of Commerce where she was temporarily staying.

Zhao Xuanxu happened to be sitting on a soft couch in the room, with a group of spies from the Supervisory Commission stationed in Xingqing standing below him. Wen Yao flipped over and came in through the window, landing under the gaze of everyone in the group.

"Is there something?" Wen Yao immediately stood aside: "If you have something to say, please speak first."

The spy looked at Zhao Xuanxu and saw that his master had already stood up from the couch and was washing a towel to wipe Wen Yao's hands. They both looked calm. His eyes twitched and he lowered his head and said, "The palace is hosting a banquet tonight to welcome Princess Jinyun. Zuo Fengjiang, the commander-in-chief of the Red Guards, is also present, accompanying the Emperor of the Western Dynasty. After the banquet, Zuo Fengjiang will go to the Red Guards command post to handle matters."

"Okay." Wen Yao nodded, unable to help but sighing, "He and the Western Emperor seem to have grown up together. It's been two days, and we're finally waiting for someone to come out."

Wen Yao had been mulling over how to obtain the Burning Heart Fragments from Zuo Fengjiang without revealing her identity. She hadn't had the chance to test the skills of Zuo Fengjiang's apprentice, Xue Shen, during the Lone Star Arena competition, but her observations revealed that his moves and stances were vastly different from Zuo Fengjiang's. Although he was Zuo Fengjiang's apprentice, he didn't seem to be practicing the same martial arts techniques.

To get something from someone, one must use coercion, inducement, or an equivalent exchange. Since time was running out, Wen Yao made a quick decision and chose coercion.

How? Traditional methods. Beating, arresting, and interrogating them about the whereabouts of the fragments.

The palace was guarded by a large number of red guards. Wen Yao didn't want anyone to get in the way or ruin Jinyun's welcoming banquet, so he simply found a big knife and waited outside the West Palace Gate until the bright moon was on the tree branch.

Finally, a dark blue sedan came out. The people carrying it were all eunuchs, and the person sitting inside should be Zuo Fengjiang.

After the sedan chair turned two streets, Wen Yao touched the human skin mask on his face, waved his hand, pulled out the big knife, jumped down, landed lightly, and looked into the eyes of the eunuchs who were caught off guard and looked astonished.

"Robbery." Wen Yao lowered his voice and said, "Commander Zuo, hand over the martial arts you have practiced and I will spare your life."

As soon as she finished speaking, the people on the other side seemed to have heard some shocking joke, and after being stunned for a while, they all started laughing.

One person said, "Where did this madman come from? Send him away quickly and don't block the adults' way."

The woman before him was tall and slender, the ordinary sword in her hand dragging limply on the ground. Bladesmiths and swordsmen in the world care nothing more than their blades, and this is especially true for the most skilled. Judging from all this, this person must be a minor figure. Perhaps a lunatic, suddenly ill, daring enough to seek death before the Red Guard Commander.

A few people laughed and jokingly sent two people toward Wen Yao, who was then easily defeated with his sword. The remaining people froze, and unconvinced, they sent two more people, who were also defeated by Wen Yao. Finally, they simply abandoned the sedan chair and surrounded him, and were once again defeated by Wen Yao, in not much longer than the last time.

Now it was awkward. The bearers of the sedan fell to the ground, and the dark blue sedan became a lonely island in this deserted street.

Wen Yao raised his leg and walked towards the sedan chair. He flipped the handle of his knife and casually swung it out, cleanly slicing off half of the sedan door and curtain. If someone skilled in martial arts was watching, they would have seen at a glance that although Wen Yao was holding a knife, he was still using sword techniques.

With a clang, the sedan door and the sedan opened up. Wen Yao stopped and held her sword in front of her. She infused the blade with her inner strength and placed it firmly on the fingers that were thrusting towards her.

Zuo Fengjiang had white hair and a white beard, his skin wrinkled and dry. Having not seen him for years, he looked significantly older than before, almost emaciated like a skeleton. His sunken eyes, however, remained sharp and piercing. They were the eyes of a wise man, without a trace of cloudiness or dullness.

The blade was only two inches away from Wen Yao's throat.

Her eyes curved, and she said fearlessly, "This is your last chance. I ask you, do you want to hand it over yourself or do you want me to make you spit it out?" When she said the last few words, she lowered her voice and tightened her tone. She suddenly turned her wrist, and her domineering internal energy spread out. The wind from the knife went straight to Zuo Fengjiang's heart, which was so close to him.

Zuo Fengjiang's red robe fluttered, and he leaned back quickly like a big bat, until his heels touched the front of the sedan chair, and the extremely fierce sword wind was barely neutralized by his internal energy.

"Young friend," he finally spoke. His voice was surprisingly younger than his appearance, almost male and female, making it impossible to tell the gender. "Which sect or school are you from? You're quite good with the sword. You're so young, with a few more years of training, who knows? You might even be as good as Feng Hai in the future."

"Praise me? Praising me is useless." Wen Yao smiled: "I want your skills, will you give it to me or not?"

Hearing Wen Yao's words, Zuo Fengjiang's eyes suddenly became sharp, and he said in a cold voice: "It's a pity that you are so arrogant, you don't know that there are people who are better than you and there are mountains beyond your reach."

His fingers were bent like the claws of a devil, and his movements were as fast as lightning. In an instant, he moved behind Wen Yao and said, "You will stay here today. This will be a lesson for you!"