"Your Highness, look! This footprint looks new!" Upon hearing Cheng Liang's apparent discovery, Xuan Yuanhan hurriedly came over to confirm.
Cheng Liang continued his expert analysis, "These footprints look like they belong to three people. Judging from the size and depth of the footprints, it should be... one man and two women."
Then he turned and looked around, saying, "Your Highness, look at the direction of these footprints. We came from the east, but these three footprints are coming from the west, stretching all the way to... Oh no..."
Cheng Liang suddenly realized that the footprints were clearly heading in the same direction as theirs, and immediately asked in surprise. But before he could finish speaking, Xuan Yuanhan had already become alert and strode forward in the direction the footprints were heading.
Cheng Liang hurriedly caught up.
“Your Highness, besides Lu Xian, there are other people in the world who know about Layuechun. Presumably, those piles of corpses just now were also coming for Layuechun. Are we... too late? If we really miss it, then..." Cheng Liang said with a worried expression as he walked.
"Shut up!" Xuan Yuanhan stamped his foot and coldly rebuked him.
He then turned to look at the snow-capped mountain ahead and continued walking, solemnly saying, "Even if it has already been picked, even if I raze this entire desolate mountain to the ground, I will definitely find a second 'Winter Spring' on this peak."
"What? The summit? Does Your Highness mean that you don't need just any 'Winter Spring' plant, but specifically the one at the very top?" Cheng Liang exclaimed in surprise upon hearing Xuan Yuanhan's determination.
Lu Xian's letter stated that the best quality medicine for spring medicine is the one that reaches its peak in December, but he never expected that his master would be so eager for perfection for that girl. This time, he is probably in real trouble.
Cheng Liang walked along listlessly. His eyes suddenly lit up, but upon seeing the enormous white object not far ahead, his face fell again, and he immediately buried his head back down.
"There's someone ahead!" Xuan Yuanhan suddenly stopped. Cheng Liang followed behind with his head down, lost in thought. Before he knew it, he took a step forward and bumped into Xuan Yuanhan's back.
Xuan Yuanhan turned around and glared at him fiercely. Only then did Cheng Liang perk up and step forward to look ahead in the direction Xuan Yuanhan indicated.
He immediately reached out and rubbed his eyes hard, then after a moment's thought, slowly said, "No way..."
"How is it?" Xuan Yuanhan asked.
"Your Highness, I recognize these two women. They are..." Cheng Liang said, but then seemed unsure why they were here. He stopped, scratched the back of his head, and looked ahead again to confirm.
When he turned around, he bumped into Xuan Yuanhan, who was glaring at him coldly. He hurriedly said, "Your Highness, those two women seem to be maids from Baicao Valley. Last time, when Your Highness sent me to Baicao Valley with Miss Yi to ask for top-grade Dendrobium officinale for the Empress Dowager, these two arrogant maids turned me away. Hmph, since Your Highness is here, how dare they turn away the Prince of Qin's residence? Today, I will teach them a lesson."
"Hundred Herbs Valley?" Xuan Yuanhan looked into Cheng Liang's eyes and asked again to confirm. Cheng Liang nodded in affirmation.
"Could it be him again? He's here too?" Xuan Yuanhan was almost certain that Yi Junhao had also come to this desolate mountain to find the twelfth month spring for Yi Shangyun.
"Your Highness means... Yi Junhao?" Before Cheng Liang could finish speaking, Xuan Yuanhan had already walked straight towards the two women, and Cheng Liang hurriedly followed.
"Someone's coming!" Bai Zhi saw two unfamiliar men with swords approaching them from afar and quickly shielded Zi Su, who was motionless against a large rock and whose pressure points had been sealed, behind her, reminding her.
Zisu opened her eyes wide, gesturing for Baizhi to quickly release her pressure points. However, Baizhi hesitated, remembering Yi Junhao's instructions, and ultimately did not agree. She could only extend her frail arms to protect Zisu behind her, her heart filled with extreme fear, knowing that her skills were too shallow and that she was afraid she would be willing but unable to help.
Just as she was hesitating, Xuan Yuanhan and his servant Cheng Liang stood in front of them.
Cheng Liang, with a gloating and deliberately provocative air, held his sword, crossed his arms, and grinned wickedly at her, saying, "You brat, we've really met on a narrow road, what a small world!"
After saying that, he glanced at Bai Zhi, who was trembling with fear, and then tilted his head to look at Zi Su, who seemed a little off, who was protecting her behind her. Cheng Liang looked around and continued, "Oh, what are you two young ladies doing here in this desolate wilderness, in the freezing cold? Aren't you afraid..."
As he spoke, Cheng Liang took a big step forward and approached Bai Zhi, revealing a slightly lewd smile.
Bai Zhi was startled and immediately pointed her sword at Cheng Liang's nose, but in her nervousness, she didn't even realize that the sword was still not drawn.
"Tsk tsk tsk, have you learned how to use a sword?!" Cheng Liang said, then tightly pinched the sword in Bai Zhi's hand with two fingers. Bai Zhi was shocked. She was already not very skilled, and now even the weapon she used to scare people was being controlled by someone else. She blamed herself for always being lazy and was now extremely annoyed.
Cheng Liang disarmed her, then slowly squatted down, looked at Zisu, and reported to Xuan Yuanhan behind him, "Your Highness, she has been acupunctured and cannot move."
Upon hearing this, Xuan Yuanhan blinked his cold and deep eyes slightly, and Cheng Liang immediately extended two fingers to release the pressure points.
"No!" Bai Zhi exclaimed loudly.
Just as Bai Zhi exclaimed in surprise, Zi Su leaped to her feet, precisely drawing a sharp sword from its sheath and pressing it against Cheng Liang's neck. "You audacious lecher! How dare you lay a finger on my sister? Don't you value your life?"
Caught off guard, Cheng Liang instinctively spread his arms and raised them slightly to his sides in a gesture of surrender. Zi Su's sharp eyes were fixed on Cheng Liang and the sword in her hand. Taking advantage of the situation, Bai Zhi quickly bent down, picked up the sword that Cheng Liang had just knocked away, and moved closer to Zi Su.
Cheng Liang then looked at his master behind him, but to his surprise, his master not only ignored him, but also deliberately turned his head to the other side.
Dealing with these two women was child's play for him. But he had only spoken to his master about it; how could he possibly lay a hand on two weak women? They weren't really evil people; at most, they had just made him lose face that time.
So he immediately leaned closer, grinning, and said, "Miss, don't misunderstand. I'm not a bad person. We've met before. Look, don't you really remember me? Last time in Hundred Herbs Valley... right... look."
Zisu remained glaring angrily at the two, her face full of vigilance. Baizhi, however, frowned and scrutinized Cheng Liang from head to toe before saying, "Yes, yes, I remember now. He's the one who went into the valley with that girl to seek medicine last time, the one we turned away at the door. It seems like... yes... oh, from the Qin Prince's mansion, right?"
“Yes, it’s the Prince of Qin’s residence. This young lady has a good memory,” Cheng Liang praised with a smile.
"And who is this?" Bai Zhi then turned to ask Xuan Yuanhan, who had remained silent to the side.
Cheng Liang hurriedly replied, "Oh, this is my master, the King of Qin of the Western Qin Kingdom. I am his deputy general, named Cheng Liang."
"Your Highness, the King of Qin? The God of War of the Spirit Realm...King Xuanyuan Han of Qin?" Upon hearing this, the two said in unison.
Cheng Liang smiled and nodded in affirmation.
At this moment, Zisu immediately released the sword blade that was pressed against Cheng Liang's neck, and the two of them knelt down together and bowed to Xuan Yuanhan, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness, Prince Qin."
Seeing Cheng Liang looking defeated in front of the two women, Xuan Yuanhan glared at him before saying to them, "Get up."
"By the way, what are you two doing here?" Cheng Liang asked, finally snapping out of his daze.
“We came here with the Valley Master. We heard that the young lady suffered from severe cold poisoning in her leg last time, and the Valley Master came to find the divine herb Layuechun for her,” Bai Zhi said first.
Upon hearing this, Cheng Liang hurriedly turned his gaze to Xuan Yuanhan, and indeed, it was just as Xuan Yuanhan had predicted.
"Then why are only the two of you here, and where is your Valley Master? And why was Zisu's pressure points sealed? Who did it?" Cheng Liang continued to ask.
Bai Zhi's heart sank, and she frowned as she said, "General Cheng, you may not know this, but the Valley Master originally intended to come alone. It was only after Zi Su and I threatened to kill ourselves that he agreed to let us go with him. However, once we arrived here, the Valley Master saw that rock climbing was extremely dangerous, so he decided to venture out alone. Zi Su refused, so he acupunctured her pressure points and wouldn't allow me to undo them."
At this moment, Zisu said rather angrily, "Hmph, you brat, if you dare to disobey me again, I will ignore you from now on."
Bai Zhi said aggrievedly, "But the Valley Master is right. Look at this enormous white creature in front of us. It has to climb to the top of a cliff about two thousand feet high. Zi Su, you know that the two of us simply can't do it. We'll only be a burden to the Valley Master, won't we?"
"It's all that girl's fault! What's so good about that ugly girl that she could disturb the Valley Master's usually extremely calm mind? For her sake, he's now disregarding everything. If anything happens to the Valley Master, I, Zisu, will make her pay with her life!" Zisu said through gritted teeth, her long sword, which hadn't yet been sheathed, was firmly planted into the icy snow beneath her feet in her anger.
Seeing the force with which she struck with her sword, Xuanyuan Han cast a chilling glance at her, then spoke in an even colder voice, "If you want to make a move on her, you'll have to ask me for my permission first."
"What does Your Highness Qin mean by this?" Zisu asked, puzzled. Cheng Liang immediately winked at her, signaling her to stop talking.
"What's wrong with General Cheng's eyes? Did the cold wind here squint into them?" Zisu, however, failed to grasp his good intentions.
Seeing that his well-intentioned gesture had failed, Cheng Liang immediately reached out and rubbed his eyes to cover up his embarrassment, saying, "Oh, yes, the wind here is really strong."
Xuanyuan Han glared at him fiercely, and Cheng Liang was so frightened that his eyes darted around, not daring to look directly at his master.
Bai Zhi quickly handed him a silk handkerchief, smiling and saying with concern, "General Cheng, you mustn't wipe with your hands, use this instead."
"Thank you, Miss Baizhi," Cheng Liang said politely.
“Such a pretentious grown man, and he calls himself a general, sigh…” Zisu looked at him with disdain.
“What’s wrong with the general? The general is also made of flesh and blood, not an impenetrable fortress. I’m telling you, girl, why can’t you be as gentle and lovely as this young lady? Why do you have to be so sharp-tongued? Be careful you won’t be able to get married in the future!” Cheng Liang said to Zi Su while looking at Bai Zhi.
But what he was really thinking was, "Isn't it all because of you, you idiot, that you dared to speak disrespectfully to your master's beloved?"
Unexpectedly, these words enraged Zisu once again. She immediately pulled out the sword that had been stuck in the snow and slashed fiercely at Cheng Liang.
Cheng Liang also quickly raised his sword to block, but only defended and did not attack.
Bai Zhi immediately shouted, "Zi Su, what are you trying to do?"
However, Zisu seemed not to have heard Baizhi's words at all. She was busy swinging her sword up and down, displaying her nimble sword skills, while cursing, "You arrogant fool, how dare you slander me like this? Today I will show you how powerful I am."
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