Xiao Zhi had never imagined a reunion.
A year ago, Yun Yi would sometimes fall into deep sleeps. He vaguely understood—she didn’t belong here.
Who knew she would leave so suddenly, not even wanting the gold and silver treasures he had prepared.
At this moment.
The endless beacon fires lit up the night.
She was close enough to touch—so vivid and alive—and his heart came alive too.
The guards had retreated a hundred meters away but still watched the woman’s every move warily.
Within the past year, many had been selected to serve the Emperor.
These people had never seen a woman close to the Emperor—let alone a woman in a dragon robe.
Yun Yi wrapped herself in the robe, like a chocolate Pocky stick, and wriggled two steps toward Xiao Zhi.
“Stop wearing it,” Xiao Zhi mocked her, “You look like a standing earthworm.”
“Xiao Zhi!” Yun Yi’s eyes darted around quickly.
There were still outsiders present—didn’t she need to save face?
The guards were shocked: This woman dared to call His Majesty by his personal name!
Yet unexpectedly, the Son of Heaven was not angered. Instead, he removed his cloak and wrapped it around her, then cheerfully led her down the gate tower.
Yun Yi straightened her back—so she was heading to the front lines.
If she’d known this day would come, she wouldn’t have slacked off in taekwondo class.
Her left and right brains battled each other, and she managed to come up with two moves—she had to give the ancient enemy forces a taste of taekwondo shock.
They arrived before a large vermilion door. The wide plaque above the lintel had been removed, revealing only bare stone bricks.
Yun Yi stepped in first. The courtyard opened up before her.
A mansion? Then she thought again—no, this was the border. She’d heard that a hundred li further north was nothing but vast yellow sand.
“A corrupt official’s residence?” Yun Yi asked softly.
“Mm. You saw him earlier.” Xiao Zhi’s gaze deepened slightly, following her ponytail, as if pondering something.
The girl ahead suddenly spun around, her ponytail tracing a warm golden arc under the lamplight.
“I should’ve known to kick it like a ball!”
“It’s already been fed to the eagles.”
“A few days apart and you’ve gotten kinder.” Yun Yi assumed a tyrant would have crueler methods.
“A whole year apart,” Xiao Zhi corrected her. “Changes are normal.”
Right. She’d been back in the modern era for about ten days—the flow of time was different on each side. By her calculation, she’d been away from Yan for nearly a year.
Yun Yi stood at the gate and saw Xiao Zhi hadn’t come in. She waved to him: “Why aren’t you coming in?”
“I’m going to the camp with General Cui. You stay here obediently.”
Cui Min, accompanying the imperial carriage, struggled to suppress his racing heart. The Emperor should have gone straight to the front lines, but unexpectedly he had come directly to this residence.
What he was settling in was a young lady, draped in the Emperor’s cloak. She must be someone the Emperor wanted to protect.
Beyond that, Cui Min didn’t dare think further.
“Your Majesty,” Cui Min cupped his hands, “Cui Xiao leads the elite troops. This general will make sure he guards this residence well.”
Cui Xiao was General Cui’s youngest son. Though without official rank, he accompanied the Emperor on this campaign and often guarded Xiao Zhi’s side.
The Emperor’s gaze swept over him lightly, but instead he said: “He Su, guard this place for me.”
The guard commander: “As you command!”
The Cui father and son stared at each other: Wait—why did the Emperor assign his personal guard to that young lady?
Cui Xiao’s expression flickered—the Emperor still didn’t want to give him an important post.
Having given his instructions, Xiao Zhi mounted his horse.
Yun Yi: “Hey!”
The Emperor reined in his horse and turned back.
The night wind was cold.
The girl ran out.
A wave-like shadow swept across the white wall.
“Don’t wear it anymore,” Xiao Zhi said in a low voice.
General Cui’s heart pounded—the Emperor was going to punish her for privately wearing the dragon robe.
But Xiao Zhi said: “You’ll trip again.”
Yun Yi pinched his dragon robe on both sides, quite reluctant: “Returning it to you.”
An antique dragon robe—it would surely fetch a high price at auction. She was reluctant to give it back.
Xiao Zhi: “I won’t wear this one anymore.”
It was a perfectly good garment—just a bit dirty from being stepped on. Wash it and it could be worn again. Did the stinky emperor have OCD?
Yun Yi’s eyelashes lifted: “You think I stink?”
“Not stinky.” Xiao Zhi showed a rare smile, glancing a few more times at her feet.
That tall, upright silhouette gradually vanished into the night.
Yun Yi lifted the robe’s hem—several obvious gray footprints marked the fabric. Only then did it dawn on her: he was mocking her for being short, wasn’t he?
.
She toured the front and back courtyards and didn’t see a single servant.
The residence was spacious and elegant. Beneath the pavilions and terraces was a zigzag bridge paved with white jade bricks. The water’s surface reflected a luminous white moonlight.
Yun Yi felt spooked. She called out a few times: “Is anyone there?” “Is He Su here?”
The guard commander descended from the rooftop: “Miss Yun.”
After questioning an old acquaintance, Yun Yi finally understood the situation.
Much had happened in the past year.
Helian Tu had been punished by Yan for injuring someone. The Hu girl he injured had been ennobled by the Emperor of Yan as County Princess Kanghua—her status was now entirely different.
The Northern Di Khan, weighing pros and cons, abandoned his good-for-nothing youngest son.
Helian Tu, wounded, bumped and jolted his way back to the Northern Di, only to find his father had stripped him of power and intended to elevate his youngest brother.
He only had three younger sisters—where did a youngest brother come from?
While recovering, Helian Tu went to find the woman he admired. She had already married and become a wife, her child just a month old.
A boy.
Helian Tu watched his father walk into the main tent and say to him: “Come, meet the Khatun, Lady Huyan.”
Yun Yi nodded repeatedly: “So Helian Tu’s girlfriend became his stepmother, and his brother took the crown prince position for him.”
Girlfriend, stepmother—the guard commander listened in a daze.
Yun Yi glanced at him twice. Flying over eaves and walking on walls—impressive. But when it came to family gossip, his reactions were half a beat slow?
She immediately looked down on him: “Your boss is way sharper than you.”
The guard: What is a “boss”?
He continued telling Yun Yi that after that night, Helian Tu killed his father and brother, slaughtered many of the Khan’s confidants, and established his own faction.
After taking the Khan’s seat, the Northern Di no longer submitted to Yan.
Because Yan had shown kindness to Kangju, the Kangju Khan raised troops to attack the Northern Di. The two armies clashed—Kangju was no match for the Northern Di.
Xiao Zhi personally led the campaign. The purpose of this expedition was singular: to take Helian Tu’s head.
.
The command tent.
A scout reported: “Your Majesty, the Kangju Khan leads his remnants in a last stand at Li Valley Pass. The Khan was hit by an arrow and has retreated a hundred li.”
Xiao Zhi lowered his head to study the map.
General Cui: “Your Majesty, Li Valley Pass has treacherous terrain, but Kangju cannot hold out much longer. If the pass falls within three days, Kangju will surely be destroyed.”
Yan’s reinforcements were still far from Li Valley Pass—they couldn’t arrive within three days.
Xiao Zhi looked at Cui Min. The candlelight flickered, casting deeper lines on the old general’s face.
“I will take two thousand elite cavalry to the pass first. General Cui, bring the main army behind.”
“Your Majesty, there may be sandstorms. This minister begs Your Majesty to wait two more days—”
Xiao Zhi couldn’t wait: “Cui Xiao comes with me.”
Cui Xiao was young and highly skilled in martial arts—undoubtedly the best choice.
The cavalry regiment pressed on without rest.
Yellow sand filled the sky, blinding them.
Not to mention Cui Xiao—even the two thousand elite soldiers were struggling.
After two days of forced marching, the distant pass loomed faintly.
Helian Tu suddenly turned back. The distant sky was stained entirely by yellow sand—a suffocating color. His heart pounded for no reason.
He dismounted, pressed his ear to the ground, and held his breath.
Rumble rumble rumble—hoofbeats like war drums, piercing his eardrums.
Helian Tu thought: Not good. “Yan’s reinforcements have arrived!”
The sand kicked up by hooves traced a long stroke across the distant landscape.
When Helian Tu finally made out the newcomers, he laughed wildly at the sky three times: “Reinforcements not even a hundred?”
Xiao Zhi reined in his horse, keeping his distance from Helian Tu. The horse paced, lowering its head to search for green grass in the sand.
“Months apart, and the Khan’s brain works worse and worse.”
“It’s you?” Helian Tu was quite surprised.
He naturally knew the Emperor of Yan was personally leading the campaign—he just hadn’t expected the Emperor to come to the front lines.
With only about a hundred men.
Even if they were all elite, this was a dangerous gamble.
“Xiao Zhi, I didn’t expect you to deliver yourself to death.” Behind Helian Tu, archers nocked their arrows, ready for an ambush.
“Helian Tu, you should thank me for letting you live ten extra months.” Xiao Zhi gave him one last look.
Helian Tu saw Xiao Zhi cover his face with something strange—thin as cicada wings. The soldiers behind him did the same.
The sky seemed soaked in yellow pigment. A massive wave of sand and dust swept in from the pass.
“Not good—sandstorm!”
Helian Tu: “Loose arrows! Whoever takes the Emperor of Yan’s head gets ten thousand taels of gold, cattle and sheep—”
The arrows shot straight into the wind and were instantly scattered by the gale.
Xiao Zhi smirked: “My head is only worth ten thousand taels of gold?”
That was the same amount he owed Yun Yi for car repairs.
The sandstorm was too fierce. The Northern Di troops could only cover their faces with cloth.
Helian Tu tore off his inner garment and wrapped it around his face.
Xiao Zhi’s figure was hidden in the yellow sand, indistinct and invisible.
The Northern Di grasslands were vast and had no sandy terrain to begin with. After invading Kangju, Helian Tu had been shaken by Kangju’s barren land—it wasn’t that he had no regrets about his stubborn course.
Helian Tu pushed against the wind, leading his troops charging toward Xiao Zhi’s direction.
From the mountainsides on both sides of Li Valley Pass, battle cries suddenly erupted.
Cui Xiao led elite troops into position on both flanks: “Protect the Emperor! Loose arrows!”
Countless arrows, aided by the wind, accelerated toward the Northern Di army.
Trapped in the pass by the sandstorm, many had sand in their eyes and didn’t even know where the ambush came from before they died.
In just the time it took to burn a stick of incense, the original thirty thousand Northern Di soldiers were reduced by more than half.
Helian Tu spat out a mouthful of sand, forced his bloodshot eyes open, and searched for Xiao Zhi’s figure.
Where was the Emperor’s shadow?
Helian Tu: “You surnamed Xiao! You fled from the front lines! Have you no shame!”
Turning back, he saw many Kangju soldiers pouring in from the other side of the pass.
Learning that Yan’s reinforcements had arrived, the wounded Khan personally led troops to assist.
Among the crowd, a small-statured soldier stood out. Kangju’s distinctive lightweight leather armor protected from shoulder to chest, its streamlined design making her look heroic.
“This subject’s daughter is late to protect Your Majesty!”
Xiao Zhi recognized her—the County Princess Kanghua he had ennobled.
“Take Helian Tu’s head,” he ordered. “I want to bring it back.”
Kanghua obeyed.
A year ago, she was a Hu girl sold to Zui Luan Pavilion, humiliated at others’ whim.
Thanks to her benefactor’s rescue, she not only regained her life but was ennobled by the Emperor of Yan.
This grace she kept deep in her heart.
She only hoped that one day she could repay it.
Kanghua locked onto that face from her nightmares—cheeks overgrown with whiskers, an ugly man with an ugly heart.
She spurred her horse hard, pressed her body low against its back, and gripped her short blade.
Helian Tu had just cut down a man and turned around, crashing into a pair of deep, luminous eyes.
“It’s you.”
“Heh.”
A sneer drilled into Helian Tu’s ears, accompanied by waves of pain.
The Hu girl reached toward him. Helian Tu instinctively blocked. Unexpectedly, her hand climbed his neck like a vine.
The horse’s back sank.
Kanghua tightened her grip on Helian Tu’s neck and vaulted onto his horse.
Before Helian Tu could react, an icy chill came at his throat. He struggled violently, but the woman clinging to his back was like a ghost—no matter how he thrashed, he couldn’t shake her off.
Blood sprayed, mingling with the fierce sandstorm, flying for miles.
In the Gobi’s yellow sand, the pungent smell of blood. Kanghua grasped the Northern Di Khan’s severed head.
She knelt devoutly before the Emperor, offering up Helian Tu’s head.
Xiao Zhi glanced at it and tutted: “Even uglier dead.”
The Kangju Khan propped himself up on his wounded arm, kneeling and thanking Xiao Zhi repeatedly.
“Your Majesty has traveled far and worked hard for days. Ahead is Kangju territory. Please enter the city to rest, and the soldiers too—”
“No need.” Xiao Zhi lifted his chin, signaling Cui Xiao. “I’m going back.”
Cui Xiao: “?”
Wasn’t the Emperor tired?
Xiao Zhi used his sword to flick aside Helian Tu’s whiskers and said lightly: “It’s late. This head will start to stink.”
“???”
What exactly did the Emperor want to do?
Learning her benefactor had come, Kanghua insisted on accompanying the imperial carriage.
In just a few days, Yun Yi had toured the entire residence, thoroughly disenchanted with the ancient-style white-walled, black-tiled villa.
“Not fun.” She tossed some crushed pastry into the pond. The fat-headed fish fought frantically for the food.
“Little He,” Yun Yi asked again, “how long will the war take?”
The guard commander: “Miss Yun, based on General Cui’s previous engagements with the Northern Di, at longest two years, at shortest several months.”
Yun Yi’s hand trembled: “That’s way too long!”
The door was suddenly pushed open. Someone rushed in urgently. It was none other than Wang Delan, who had accompanied the imperial carriage.
Yun Yi said in surprise: “Why are you back?”
“Miss Yun! General Cui’s reinforcements have turned back—the battle is won!”
“So fast?” Yun Yi sprang to her feet. The fish in the pond hid among the water plants.
Only three and a half days? Was this a lightning war? Did the Emperor fly back on a plane?
Yun Yi followed Wang Delan out.
The city’s residents were jubilant, like it was a festival.
She climbed the city wall and leaned over the parapet, gazing into the distance. A dark mass of troops was slowly approaching.
“Which one is Xiao Zhi?” Yun Yi craned her neck, desperately trying to see clearly.
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