Baby, don't be afraid, I'll accompany you to the heavens and the seas!

Yang Chenqing, with raised eyebrows and full of vigor, appeared before Qianqianluo on horseback.

The boy with the silver crown tied his hair up wore a crimson round-necked robe and black armor.

Wearing black boots sewn with gold-threaded silk satin, stepping on stirrups embroidered with dragon patterns, he held the reins and turned his horse around mysteriously.

Qianqian gripped the blood-soaked imperial edict tightly in her right hand and bowed respectfully to Yang Chenqing, who had turned his horse around, to express her gratitude.

"Luo'er, waaaaah~!! My Luo'er!"

The fifty-odd court officials and clansmen who had miraculously survived rushed forward to inquire about Qianqianluo's injuries.

"It's alright, step back!" Qianqian stood still, dismissing the group of clansmen who came forward.

"Hahahahahaha~ What a fine young man!!! Hahahahahaha~!!" General Lin clapped his hands and cheered as he watched the handsome young man maintain his upright posture and expression even at this moment.

"General!!" The Zhang brothers, who had been knocked to the ground, scrambled behind Lin Litian, gritting their teeth and staring intently at Qianqianluo.

"Hmph! You're good for nothing but causing trouble; get back to your units and don't embarrass me!" General Lin coldly rebuked the Zhang brothers, narrowing his eyes to warn them not to act rashly!

"Yes, General!!" The Zhang brothers bowed, mounted their horses, and remained silent for a while.

"Let's go! Qianqianluo!!!" Lin Litian led the dark mass of Qingting troops and turned to say to Qianqianluo.

Qianqian, supporting her somewhat weak body, stepped forward and took the horse reins offered by the soldiers.

With a leap, she stepped onto the unusually cold stirrups, and without looking back, she pulled on the reins and followed the Qingting army, concealing her slender figure in the last darkness of the southern border.

"Luo'er, take care of yourself!!!"

"Luo'er, the Qian clan will forever reside in Wuming Mountain in the southern border, awaiting my son's return!!"

"Waaaaah!! Luo'er, my Luo'er!!"

The surviving members of the tribe had already knelt on the ground, kowtowing and bidding farewell to their chieftain.

The piercing cries stabbed at Qianqian's eardrums, and the reins of the horse were almost inaudibly halted several times in the darkness of the night.

The towering flames emitted poisonous fumes and burned for three days and three nights.

The springtime scenery of Wuming Valley in southern Xinjiang in March has long been destroyed by the slaughter, and the mountain streams that should have been filled with melting snow are now overflowing with endless blood.

All that remains of the ancient peach trees are their charred, bare trunks, their branches bent and drooping starkly in the valley.

Only the oldest ancient peach tree on Mount Wuming still survives, sheltering the bird and butterfly tribes who fly in.

With the help of his clansmen, Elder Yun climbed to the top of Wuming Mountain. Following the instructions given by the clan elder's daughter that night, he and his clansmen worked together to peel open the trunk of the ancient peach tree.

In an instant, extremely precious silver notes and jade treasuries poured down from the tree trunk and fell to the ground.

"Luo'er, what happened? What happened? Why did you only leave room for others?"

"What? You never prepared a way out for yourself?" Elder Yun and the other elders trembled as they knelt down in the place where the clan leader's daughter often rested, drank Fenjiu liquor, and played the flute.

Yunmeng City, a border town in southern Xinjiang.

After traveling day and night, the Qingting army finally arrived at the border town where the Qingting Dynasty was stationed and garrisoned.

The soldiers and generals who had been resting and reorganizing had already spent a day resting in their official residences in Yunmeng City.

Qianqian was placed next to General Yang Chenqing's bed. She had already bathed, and the wound on her right palm had been bandaged by the doctor who came to visit that evening. He also prescribed some medicine to stop the bleeding and fade the scar.

Having slept little during the day, Qianqianlu put on a white coarse linen robe, slipped on her black boots, and pushed open the door.

As soon as she pushed open the door, she saw the boundless blue sky above the border filled with countless bits of ash and debris from vegetation.

The boy, whose hair was not adorned with hairpins, stood blankly in the courtyard, reaching out to catch the wood chips and ashes falling from the sky.

The charred wood shavings and white powder mixed with the ashes of the tribesmen seemed to sense something, and fell to rest on Qianqian's bandaged right hand.

Qianqian stared blankly at the powder in her palm for a long while, not knowing what to do!

Yang Chenqing had just finished listening to military affairs with his father. He covered his mouth and nose with a silk handkerchief and hurried back to his residence to remind Qianqian to prepare to set off for the capital the next morning.

As soon as he stepped into the house, he saw a young man with his hair unadorned standing blankly in the courtyard.

The boy's decadent beauty was even more captivating beneath his dark hair, and his pale lips were stained with cracked blood, adding to his extraordinary allure.

The restrained emotions in his eyes made the young man resemble a delicate hibiscus flower swaying in a downpour, evoking pity.

Yang Chenqing was still young, and he was so captivated by the beauty that he forgot the purpose of his trip.

Qianqian rubbed the powdery ash in her palm and let it drift back into the sky.

As soon as she looked up, she saw a person with only one foot inside the gate, while the other foot was still outside.

Realizing his lapse in composure, Yang Chenqing swallowed hard, coughed while covering his mouth, and finally stepped into the house.

"Young Master Luo, spring is cold and there are many floating catkins; cover your mouth and nose, lest you catch a strange disease!!!" Yang Chenqing took out a clean silk handkerchief from his chest, scratched his head, and handed it to Qianqian Luo with his earlobes blushing.

Qianqian's eyes narrowed slightly. She tugged at her outer robe, nodded weakly, and accepted the silk handkerchief: "Thank you so much for your concern, General Yang. I am deeply grateful!"

The boy's hoarse voice echoed in the empty courtyard, piercing the already turbulent depths of Yang Chenqing's heart.

"It's alright, young master, please take care of yourself!" Yang Chenqing returned the greeting with a slightly flustered bow, then stumbled and staggered away from the residence.

Qianqian lowered her gaze, a barely perceptible smile playing on her lips, and listlessly looked at General Yang, who was fleeing in panic.

Yang Chenqing was so focused on quickening her chaotic steps that she didn't see her father waiting for her ahead and bumped into him.

"Who is it? Don't you have eyes??" He was already a bit irritable, and then someone blocked his way, so his tone became somewhat aggressive.

"What are you doing in such a hurry?!" General Yang stroked his white beard and asked his rascal with a knowing look.

"Ah, Father? It's alright!!" Yang Chenqing felt his face burning even more when he saw his father. He lowered his head and stammered as he spoke.

"Useless!! Humph! You brat!!"

"Come into the study with me, your elder sister has written from the capital!"

"Yes! Father!!" Yang Chenqing's mind was filled with Qianqianluo's image. He followed General Yang with his head drooping in a daze.

Meanwhile, Lin Litian had also received a secret decree from the Empress and was discussing countermeasures in his study.

"General, what do you think?!" Lin Chong, the adopted son of the Lin family, asked.

Lin Litian sat in the main chair in his study, threw the secret edict into the stove in front of him to burn, closed his eyes, and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Hmph, the Zhang family is truly fickle; they actually learned of the late emperor's passing before we did!"

Lin Litian squinted, recalling Zhang Xiao's words: "The Emperor's Last Will and Testament!"