The candle flickered.

Yuanjue walked out of the inn, his figure as fast as lightning, heading towards the direction of Sand City.

The night is dark.

A hawk landed silently in front of the window and pecked at the dry mud blocks that had fallen from the earthen wall with its sharp yellow beak.

Tanmaraka stretched out his hand, and the eagle immediately raised its head and flapped its wings at him. He took out a copper ring and tied it to the eagle's claws, then gently stroked the eagle with his fingers.

The eagle made a dull cooing sound and spread its wings and flew into the night sky.

He stood in front of the window, gazing at the dark sky, his eyes as clear as water.

Ashina Bisha, Yuanjue, the assassin who just came to deliver the message, the guards who stayed in the cave to conceal the king's presence, Princess Wen Zhao... these were the only people who knew that the Regent was outside the Sand City. These people were his guards, who had sworn to be loyal to him since childhood and would not reveal his secrets.

Princess Wen Zhao was an exception.

The candlelight was extinguished by the night wind that blew into the house through the cracks, raising a puff of green smoke, and a few soft whispers came from next door.

Tanmarajika came to his senses and turned back to the inner room where the stove was lit.

The room was dark, and the heat was lingering in the gauze tent, making it as warm as spring. Yaoying lay on her side on the felt blanket, sleeping soundly with her eyes closed, occasionally uttering a few vague murmurs in her dreams.

Tanmarajiva leaned forward, sat cross-legged, and continued to practice qigong and regulate breathing.

The murmurs suddenly turned into screams of fear.

Tanmarajiva opened his eyes.

In the dim light, Yao Ying, who was sleeping opposite him, had her eyes closed and did not wake up, but her body was twisting restlessly. It was unknown what she was dreaming about. Her brows were wrinkled, her hands were tightly clutching the blanket, and beads of sweat were oozing from her snow-white face.

Tanmarajiva thought back to the time when she fell ill in Gaochang. At first, she might have wanted to test his identity, and she often found excuses to get close to him along the way. But when she really fell ill, she no longer tried to find out his identity. No matter how many strange things she found about him, she never asked any more questions and continued to trust and be close to him, not even caring about the difference between men and women.

There are many people who love and admire him, but she is the only one who has an almost naive trust in his other identity.

Yaoying's brows furrowed tighter and her whole body trembled slightly.

When she met Zhu Luyun during the day, she was absent-minded for a moment, but soon she put aside her worries and regained her spirits. After falling asleep, she relaxed, and the two years of wandering and the fear of not being able to change Li Zhongqian's fate flooded into her dreams. She once again dreamed of Li Xuanzhen killing Li Zhongqian, running helplessly on the battlefield full of corpses, calling out "brother" over and over again.

Run, run quickly.

Yao Ying's hands were gripping the blanket so tightly that they became stiff and twisted.

Tanmarajiva frowned, stood up, walked to Yaoying, leaned over, gently pulled her hands apart, took off her gloves, and the ointment on the wound had been rubbed off.

Her fingers tightened, and Yaoying suddenly clasped his hand tightly, like a drowning man who suddenly saw a piece of driftwood, and held it tightly, as if it were a tender vine that had wrapped around it, dense and soft.

Tanmarajiva did not break away from Yaoying's hand. She opened the medicine box with her empty right hand, applied medicine to her again, wiped her hands, lowered her eyes, moved her plump lips, and recited scriptures in a low voice.

When he was young, whenever he was troubled by nightmares, he would recite scriptures.

"Bodhisattva, relying on Prajna Paramita, has no worries in his heart. Because he has no worries, he has no fear. He is far away from the upside-down dreams and finally attains Nirvana..."

He did not deliberately lower his voice; his voice was clear and cold, with a pleasant tone and a peculiar melody.

The sound of chanting without any sadness or joy was melodious and merged into a mighty tide, breaking the illusion. The scene in the dream disappeared into thin air, and Yao Ying felt something in her heart and gradually calmed down.

Half asleep and half awake, her eyelashes trembled slightly.

There were no lights in the room, the fire was dim, and a figure sat beside her, like a Buddha.

Yaoying was conscious and hazy, and could not see anything clearly, but she felt inexplicably at peace. She closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

After a while, hearing her heavy breathing, Tanmarajya stood up and sat back in his original seat.

Outside the window, snow falls silently.

Yaoying slept soundly, and when she woke up, it was already daybreak.

She lay under the blanket, warm and comfortable.

Yao Ying was stunned for a moment, and couldn't remember when she fell asleep. She quickly got up and saw that Tanmaragha was still sitting opposite her with his eyes closed and regulating his breathing. She immediately became cautious in her movements.

Bright sunlight shone into the house from the high windows, and judging by the dazzling light floating in front of the tent, it was a sunny day today.

Yao Ying didn't expect that she would sleep so deeply. She regretted it secretly, rubbed her eyes, tiptoed to Tanmarajiva's side, looked closely at his face, and found that he looked a little haggard. She felt more and more guilty.

I don't know if he had an attack last night.

Yao Ying stared at Tanmarajiva's face without blinking, her warm breath caressing his neck.

He opened his eyes and glanced at her.

Seeing that he was awake, Yao Ying moved closer and said, "I accidentally fell asleep last night. Is General okay?"

"Nothing."

"Is the General feeling better today?"

Tanmarajiva nodded slightly.

Yao Ying breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and walked away, pulled up the gauze curtain, and opened the window to dissipate the foul air.

There were a few knocks on the door, and the waiter brought some clean water, a bowl of square and round naan breads of different sizes and thicknesses, and mutton.

Yao Ying covered herself with a veil, took the food, filtered the water first, handed a portion to Tanmarajya, broke off a piece of naan and ate it, said something to him, and went downstairs.

The fire in the hall was burning brightly, and the place was bustling with people. Merchants from all over the country gathered together, sitting in groups of three or four on the felt carpets, talking loudly in different languages.

"Princess Wen Zhao!"

Yao Ying's heart tightened and her heart beat wildly. She dug her fingers deep into her palms, but without showing it on her face, she looked calmly in the direction of the sound.

A group of royal court merchants wearing pointed hats with brocade brims and brocade robes with lapels sat around the stove, holding plates and grabbing roasted lamb from the plates while discussing something. All of them had rosy faces and meaningful smiles on their faces.

Yao Ying immediately realized that the Wang Ting merchant in the hall was talking about her, so he shouted out her title. She breathed a sigh of relief and calmed herself.

She asked the waiter for a plate of barbecue, found an inconspicuous corner, sat down with legs crossed like everyone else, grabbed the mutton, and listened carefully to what everyone was saying.

The merchant from the royal court who had just laughed loudly asked the others, "Has there been another princess recently?"

Another merchant replied, "Yes! The one who came this time is the Princess of Beirong."

There was a burst of surprised noises from the crowd.

People were discussing: "Does Princess Beirong also believe in Buddhism? Don't they believe in some wolf god and claim to be the descendants of the wolf god?"

One of them snorted coldly, rolled his eyes at the short-sightedness of the crowd, and after successfully attracting everyone's attention, he said with some pride: "I often deal with the Beirong people. In recent years, many noble ladies in the Beirong Yating have converted to Buddhism. Even the aunt of Wakhan Khan has learned to give alms. There is a legend circulating in the Beirong that the Buddha's son is the reincarnation of Ananda, with profound Buddhist teachings and boundless magical powers. He was born to guard the royal court and can scare away all evil spirits. He protects the royal court and is invincible! Whoever dares to attack the royal court guarded by the Buddha's son will be cursed. Many people in the Beirong firmly believe in this legend. When Wakhan Khan went to war, even their priests advised the Khan not to be an enemy of the Buddha's son. What's so strange about the Beirong princess believing in Buddhism?"

Everyone suddenly realized that the Northern Rong had attacked the royal court several times in recent years, and as long as the Buddhist disciple Yu led the army in person, the Northern Rong would have been defeated. It was not surprising that the Northern Rong were terrified and turned to Buddhism.

No wonder the Northern Rong people would be uneasy every time the Khan was defeated in a battle, and the Khan would also be very frightened, because they were afraid of the Buddha's reputation!

Everyone sighed for a while and asked, "Have you ever seen the Princess of Beirong? Is she more beautiful, or is the Indian princess who was escorted to the Holy City by the Indian warriors more beautiful?"

One person said excitedly: "I have seen Princess Manda from India in Virumaluo. Princess Manda has a pair of amber eyes, as bright as the beauty flowers on Mount Tianshan. She is more beautiful than Princess Beirong!"

Others echoed that Virama was the capital of one of the countless small countries in India. Merchants there once traded spices with Indian merchants. Princess Manda was a famous beauty in the local area. She often rode an elephant to the river to play, and many people had seen her.

When discussing the beauty of Princess Manda and Princess Beirong, everyone spoke at once, expressing their opinions.

During the argument, one of them clapped his hands and said with a smile: "How about comparing with Princess Wen Zhao?"

The hall suddenly became quiet, with only the crackling sound of burning wood as the only sound.

Yao Ying's eyelids twitched and she was almost choked.

In the silence, someone whispered, "Princess Wen Zhao looks like a goddess. I think Princess Wen Zhao is more beautiful."

The merchant who had spoken for Princess Manda earlier was not convinced and retorted: "Princess Wen Zhao is a Han woman. No matter how beautiful she is, she is not as beautiful as Princess Tianzhu!"

Seeing that the two sides were arguing, someone laughed and stepped out to mediate: "What you say doesn't count. It's up to the Buddha to see who is more beautiful and who is the real goddess."

Everyone stopped arguing, looked at each other, and shook their heads and laughed.

Yao Ying was speechless in the corner, wondering: Why did these merchants compare the beauty of several princesses? Also, why did each country send a princess to the royal court to celebrate the Buddha's birthday?

Judging from the tone of the merchants' discussion of the matter, the princesses were definitely not just coming to the royal court to worship Buddha.

There was a buzz of conversation in the hall, and the merchants changed the subject and discussed Tanmarajiva's birthday.

"The Buddhist is still in seclusion. I don't know when he will be able to preach at the Wang Temple again. My mother at home has been waiting for more than a month."

"I heard from the monks in the Buddhist temple that Buddhist disciples go into seclusion for at least half a month and at most three months. It should be soon."

"Next month is the Buddha's birthday, and he will definitely give a lecture."

…

As they were discussing, the topic suddenly turned back to Yao Ying: "The Buddhist disciple has been in seclusion, and Princess Wen Zhao has not appeared for a long time."

"I heard that Princess Wen Zhao was obsessed with the Buddhist disciple. After the Buddhist disciple went into seclusion, she devoutly recited the sutras every day and stayed by his side, not eating or drinking, and never stepped out of the palace. She became almost skinny."

One person exclaimed: "Wouldn't that damage the princess's beauty?"

"If the princess doesn't do this, how can she impress the Buddha?"

…

Yao Ying looked down at the roasted lamb on the plate, and the corners of her mouth twitched slightly: Not eating or drinking every day will not only damage your beauty, but will also starve you to death.

The merchants finished their breakfast one after another and went to the market to trade goods.

Yaoying put down the plate and walked slowly upstairs with a frown on her face.

The merchants talked in various dialects, and she could only understand part of them. However, through guessing and asking a few questions from her colleagues, she was able to piece together what had happened in the royal court during the time she was away.

Tanmarajika announced this to all the countries, and the rumors about her and him were spread by word of mouth among merchants from all over the country and eventually reached the Shule area.

It happened to be the birthday of Tanmarajiva, and soon after the envoys from various countries set out, they also quickly sent their princesses. The reason was that the princesses admired the demeanor of the Buddha and came to the royal court to worship the relics and pray for the subjects.

Princess Manda from India was accompanying her father on a diplomatic mission to Shule. When her father learned that Yaoying had stayed in a Buddhist temple, he quickly delivered a letter and sent someone to take Princess Manda to the royal court, asking the Buddhist disciple to take care of her on his behalf.

There are also Princess Guizi, Princess Khotan, Princess Tribe...

The merchant in the royal court spoke ambiguously about all the princesses, deliberately comparing them to Yaoying.

All signs indicate that these princesses are coming for Tanmaraka.

Yao Ying's steps were heavy and her scalp was tingling.

The royal court was rich, and Tanmarajiva was the monarch. He defeated Wakhan Khan several times and kept the unstoppable Northern Rong outside the northern road. The small countries in the north and south of the ridges were able to catch their breath. If he were not a monk, all the countries would be eager to form an alliance with him. Because he was a monk, the countries did not mention the matter of marriage.

Now that he has made an exception and protected her, these small countries are ready to make a move.

Yao Ying could imagine how Prajna would scold her after returning to the royal court: Look, it's all your fault! You defiled our king!

Tanmaraka would definitely not care about these things, but these things were caused by her, so she couldn't pretend not to know.

She was the cause, and she had to find a way to deal with it.

Yao Ying's mind raced.

She had to find a way to solve these troubles, preferably one that would put an end to everyone's thoughts once and for all without damaging Tanmaraka's reputation.