After pondering for a long time, Mei Zhixuan frowned deeply and said in a deep voice, "You would never guess the true identity of the Empress Dowager..."
"Is it about finding out the identity of the Empress Dowager...? Is there any progress? The Empress Dowager, who is she...?" The guard asked impatiently.
Mei Zhixuan had the words on the tip of his tongue, but he still couldn't believe it and stared blankly for a while.
Finally, she said in a low voice, seemingly nonchalant, "My stepmother is the descendant of the guardian who was lost by the Western Qin Kingdom many years ago, and her name is Ruoxi."
"What?" The guard stared at him wide-eyed and exclaimed in surprise.
After calming down and thinking for a moment, the guard made an even more astonishing discovery. He looked at Mei Zhixuan's profile and said, "If the Empress is indeed the descendant of the lost guardian of Western Qin, then the Princess we have been searching for for many years, is she also... the orphan of the guardian of Western Qin who possesses that mysterious power?"
Mei Zhixuan had long held this belief in his heart as well. Suddenly, he lowered his head and stared at the ground, feeling his mind in complete chaos.
All the news that came at this sudden time caught him completely off guard.
He was truly surprised, delighted, worried, and afraid, as if he had been placed on a cloud, yet also as if he had been thrown into hell.
He kept asking himself, over and over again, "How could this be? How could this be?"
After searching for so many years in the vast sea of people, the guardian of Western Qin had actually appeared right beside him before. She was his only and most respected stepmother from childhood to adulthood.
If Yi Shangyun is indeed, as they suspect, a descendant of the Empress Dowager, and once it is confirmed that he also bears the same phoenix mark as the Empress Dowager, then all the truths will come to light.
But the thought of Xuan Yuan Yue, who is now pregnant with his child...
As she was deep in thought, the guard belatedly whispered, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, "But it's clear that Her Majesty already knows about this. What about the situation in Western Qin…?"
Mei Zhixuan exhaled a breath of stale air and said softly, "Yes! She once swore to me so confidently that she knew nothing about the Guardian, but now she has betrayed us to our motherland, saying that the Guardian of Western Qin, the one with the phoenix mark on her body, is my deceased Empress of Eastern Ning..."
As Mei Zhixuan spoke, he returned to the candlelight and looked at the faint light emanating from it. Suddenly, he felt incredibly cold inside.
Still with his back to the guard, he finished speaking in a daze, then clenched an angry fist hidden in his sleeve, the veins throbbing...
Could it be that King Xuanyuan Han of Qin already knows about the Phoenix Mark of the Guardians?
So, his claim that his sister was dead was actually... a deliberate attempt to deceive others.
Lost in thought, Mei Zhixuan seemed to suddenly understand something. His eyes lit up, and he relaxed his brows, raised his head, turned back to the guard, and said excitedly, "That's it! That's all right! It must be like that! It must be like that!"
The guard asked, puzzled, "What is Your Highness talking about? Everything is correct? And what does that mean?"
Mei Zhixuan sat back down and said, "I finally understand completely. My sister is not dead at all."
"The legitimate princess is not dead. How can Your Highness be so sure?" the guard asked, puzzled.
Although he had not dared to say it outright out of consideration for Mei Zhixuan's feelings, almost everyone had come to believe the fact that Xuan Yuanhan had announced to the world that Yi Shangyun was dead.
Mei Zhixuan analyzed in detail: "Since Yue... that Princess of Western Qin knew about the Guardians, then Xuan Yuanhan must have also known that his younger sister was the Guardian. To cover his tracks, he must have kept his younger sister hidden. He had already anticipated that once his younger sister's identity was exposed, she would be fought over by the entire world and become the target of everyone's hatred. Now, there are many rumors about his younger sister in Western Qin. If this continues, something bad will definitely happen sooner or later. Therefore, King Xuan Yuanhan of Qin took the opportunity to announce to the world that his younger sister was dead. In fact... he wanted to protect his younger sister."
The guard immediately understood and agreed, saying, "So, this King Xuanyuan Han of Qin is truly cunning. We almost fell for his trick." He then asked, "So, what should we do next?"
Mei Zhixuan raised his head and said confidently, "Of course we should find my younger sister as soon as possible and take her back to her ancestral home. From now on, she will no longer be the guardian of Western Qin, but should be the legitimate princess of Dongning."
The guard said with delight, "In that case, with the return of the legitimate princess, that mysterious power should naturally belong to Dongning. I believe that with the help of this mysterious power, Dongning will surely dominate the entire Lingkong and be stronger than any other country."
Upon realizing this, the guard quickly clasped his hands in congratulations and said, "It seems that our great cause of unifying Lingkong is just around the corner. Your Highness, let's quickly send this good news back to the palace to tell the King. I believe the King will be overjoyed when he hears of this."
Unexpectedly, Mei Zhixuan immediately stopped him and said sternly, "Absolutely not! No one but the two of us should ever know about this."
With a gesture, he extended his hand, and the guard quickly moved closer. The two of them began to secretly plot their schemes...
After traveling all night, dawn finally broke.
In the sweltering summer heat, even early in the morning, the sun's rays are intensely scorching and unbearable.
Yi Shangyun galloped towards the rising sun, feeling as if the bones in his body were about to fall apart from the jolting of the horse.
The worst part was that her usually baby-soft skin was now covered in prickly heat from sweating and the extremely harsh environment on the road, causing unbearable itching.
More importantly, the water pouch on her body had long been empty.
She felt that if she couldn't find a water source soon, she would definitely die of thirst on the way.
This is a road that is very close to the extremely arid desert of the North, and not only is the road rugged and uneven, but the water source is also becoming increasingly scarce.
Along the way, she didn't encounter any lakes, not even a trickle of water.
Just when she was exhausted and scorched by the blazing sun overhead, it felt as if the person on horseback was no longer herself.
I felt lightheaded and unsteady, my body already teetering on the verge of collapse.
Suddenly, a cool breeze blew in my face.
It was as if her soul had returned to this body. With a start, she suddenly came to her senses and exclaimed, "Could it be that there is a water source ahead?"
With this thought in mind, she endured the pain and gave the horse's rump a hard spur, pleading with it, "Brother Horse, we two big creatures can't just die of thirst on the way here, letting these vultures and wolves on the grasslands benefit us. Run, run, there must be water ahead. Trust me, this time, I won't be wrong."
However, the horse glared at her with utter contempt.
It had heard her say this too many times along the way, but clearly none of them were true.
Although Brother Ma was extremely unwilling, he still had no choice but to obey and gallop away again.
Unexpected.
After crossing a small hill, a winding river appeared before them.
The crystal-clear, emerald-green river surface shimmered with light, reflecting off people's faces like dazzling, precious gems.
She was so thirsty that she simply jumped off her horse and rushed towards it with her steed, enjoying the long-lost coolness.
Perhaps too greedy for this hard-won coolness, she and her horse rested there and frolicked for a long, long time.
Brother Ma was still greedily drinking by the river, while she, after her excitement subsided, lay down under a tree on a wide, green meadow, using the shade to cool off.
As the saying goes, "a calm mind brings coolness," she tried to clear her mind and closed her eyes to rest, so that the prickly heat on her body would not be so uncomfortable.
Although there was hardly anyone around, she didn't dare to go into the river for a bath, so she could only wipe herself with a wet cloth.
I had finally managed to lie still and calm down.
Suddenly, as if by magic, a gleaming, icy dagger appeared out of nowhere and was gently placed against her slender, beautiful neck.
With a "whoosh," she opened her beautiful phoenix eyes in astonishment.
Startled, she looked at the masked man in black who had appeared out of nowhere, crouching above her head, staring intently at her with eyes that held a vague, unfathomable quality, and asked, "What are you...?"
Almost simultaneously, the masked man in black, seeing her trying to get up, also shouted at her, "Don't move!"
"Human" had no choice but to lower his voice.
The masked man in black stared into her eyes, making sure she wouldn't move, before slowly standing up.
Unexpectedly, Yi Shangyun pursed her lips and boldly asked, "Who exactly are you? What do you want? To rob me of my money or my virtue?"
The masked man in black turned to look into her eyes, seemingly startled by her words. He then put his hands behind his back and looked at the vast land before him, saying, "I, since I am standing on this great grassland, naturally belong to this great grassland."
Yi Shangyun thought for a moment, and seeing his evasive words, she fearlessly challenged him again: "I've seen many people on the grasslands, and none of them are as secretive and furtive as you. They are all bold and generous, especially the men. I think..."
Hesitating for a moment, he looked at his back again and said, "You look like a rogue from some dark world."
“‘Rogue,’ hahahahaha…” Unexpectedly, the masked man in black, with his back to her, suddenly burst into wild laughter.
Yi Shangyun tilted her head, looking at her retreating figure with a puzzled expression, and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
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