Arriving Home

Ouyang Ke's eyes lit up, and his heart surged with excitement. Ignoring Tolui, he smiled and said, "What kind of man is Young Master Ouyang? Since my words have been spoken, how could I go back on them? However, he may leave, but you, Princess Huazheng, must stay..."

"Very well."

Cheng Lingsu had anticipated that he would not let the matter rest so easily. Yet, this was perhaps for the best; dealing with Ouyang Ke alone would allow her some maneuvering room to seek an opportunity to escape. With Tolui present, she would inevitably have reservations in her heart. Therefore, before Ouyang Ke could utter any more nonsense, she cut him off and agreed directly.

Ouyang Ke had not expected her to agree so readily. He laughed heartily, "That's more like it. With the nuisance and eyesore gone, the two of us can have a proper chat."

Without a word, Cheng Lingsu turned her back to him, retrieved a headscarf embroidered with blue flowers from inside her robe, shook it slightly in the air, and tied it around Tolui's bleeding palm. She then tucked the two blue flowers back into her pocket, briefly explained the situation to Tolui, and urged him to leave first.

With an ashen face, Tolui took two steps back, abruptly snatched the saber planted in the ground beside his feet, glared in Ouyang Ke's direction, and swung his blade fiercely through the empty air before him. "Your martial arts are formidable, and I am no match for you. But today, in the name of Genghis Khan, my father, I swear to the gods of the grassland that once I eradicate the villains who conspired against my father, I will surely fight you to the death! I shall avenge my sister and show you what the true sons and daughters of the grassland are made of!"

Though he was also the son of a Mongol tribal leader, Tolui was amiable and deeply loyal, quite unlike the blindly arrogant Wanyan Wuzhu (or rather, Jamukha/Tolui comparisons etc.). Yet, his inner pride was no less than theirs. As Genghis Khan's favorite son, he understood his father's broad ambitions and grand vision. He wanted to help his father turn every land covered by the azure sky into grazing grounds for the Mongols!

For this goal, he had trained in military camps since childhood without missing a single day. Who could have foreseen that after years of bitter practice, not only would he fall into enemy hands today, but he would also be unable to safely bring home the sister who had come to rescue him? Tolui knew in his heart that Cheng Lingsu was right; his primary concern should be Genghis Khan's safety, and he needed to return swiftly to mobilize troops to rescue his ambushed father. Yet, the thought of his sister being forcibly detained here choked him with a humiliation so profound it nearly stopped his breath.

Mongols valued their promises above all else, let alone an oath sworn to the gods revered by everyone on the grassland. Knowing full well that his martial prowess was inferior to Ouyang Ke's, Tolui had still pronounced the vow with absolute resolve. His expression was pious and solemn, and his words surged with heroic spirit. Although not a master of martial arts, the broad shoulders tempered by years in military camps carried a natural regal aura identical to Genghis Khan's—a commanding presence that made even Ouyang Ke, who did not catch the specific meaning of his words, feel a secret shudder of awe.

A warm sensation blossomed in Cheng Lingsu's chest. The hot blood uniquely belonging to a daughter of Genghis Khan seemed to respond to Tolui's unwillingness and determination, rushing up like a torrent and making her eyes prickle with warmth. Calmly, she stepped sideways to block any potential line of attack from Ouyang Ke, and whispered, "Go quickly. Hurry back. I have my own way to escape."

Tolui nodded, stepped forward, opened his arms to give her a brief embrace, and without casting another glance at Ouyang Ke, turned and sprinted toward the camp gates.

Along the way, a few remaining soldiers who saw him bolting from the camp attempted to step forward and intercept him, but with a single stroke of his blade for each, he cut them down to the ground.

***

Not until she saw with her own eyes that Tolui had seized a horse at the edge of the camp and galloped far into the distance did Cheng Lingsu finally relax, letting out a soft sigh.

In her previous life, her master, the Medicine King of Toxic Hands, used poisons to make medicines and heal the sick and wounded. Yet, he deeply believed in karmic retribution, leading him to convert to Buddhism in his later years to cultivate his character and mind until he achieved a state of absolute detachment from anger and joy. Cheng Lingsu was the youngest disciple he accepted in his twilight years, and she was deeply influenced by him. Through this twist of worldly reincarnation, despite clearly having died, she had somehow been sent here. She could not help but believe that perhaps, in the unseen realm, there was some other purpose at work.

Originally, she had no wish to become overly entangled with the people and events of this world. She had even constantly contemplated finding an opportunity to flee far away, returning to the shores of Dongting Lake to see what the White Horse Temple of several centuries later looked like nowadays. She would open a small medical clinic, heal the sick, and spend the rest of her life guarding the longing and deep affection she held for that person from her past life.

Moreover, once Genghis Khan fell into peril, the Mongol tribe where she had lived for a decade would also suffer catastrophe. The mother and elder brothers who had genuinely cared for and raised her, along with the clansmen she saw and lived among day after day, would all be plunged into disaster. Having spent ten years with them, how could she simply stand by and watch?

At this thought, Cheng Lingsu let out another faint sigh.

Seeing that Cheng Lingsu had been lost in thought, gazing in the direction Tolui had left and sighing repeatedly, Ouyang Ke raised his chin and sneered, "What? Are you really that reluctant to part with him?"

Catching the underlying implication in his words, Cheng Lingsu frowned, pulled her thoughts back, and blurted out, "I am worried about my brother. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Oh? He is your brother?" Ouyang Ke raised an eyebrow, a flash of joy vanishing from the corners of his eyes. "Then... the fellow before him was your sweetheart?"

"What nonsense are you..." Cheng Lingsu paused abruptly as realization dawned. "You mean Guo Jing? You were already there... You knew the moment we arrived?"

"Not 'you all', just you! The moment you arrived, I knew." Ouyang Ke looked rather pleased, clearly enjoying her reaction.

Although Cheng Lingsu had dismounted from her horse far away, his inner strength was profound, and how could his hearing compare to that of ordinary Mongol soldiers? He had detected her almost the exact moment she infiltrated the main camp. Just as he was about to reveal himself, he saw Ma Yu step forward and take both her and Guo Jing away.

Years ago, his uncle Ouyang Feng had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Quanzhen Sect, which was why the lineage of the Western Poison always harbored a sense of resentment and wariness toward Quanzhen Taoists. Recognizing Ma Yu's Taoist robes and recalling his uncle's past warnings, Ouyang Ke had dismissed the idea of showing himself. Instead, he remained hidden in the shadows, watching their back-and-forth exchanges.

He had originally expected Cheng Lingsu to persuade Ma Yu to join her in storming the camp for a rescue. Unaware that Ma Yu was the leader of the Quanzhen Sect, Ouyang Ke merely assumed that besides the millions of troops in the camp, Wanyan Honglie was accompanied by several martial arts experts capable of entangling Ma Yu—and perhaps even eliminating him in the process, depriving the Quanzhen Sect of one of its guiding pillars. He had never imagined that the Taoist would not only refrain from storming the camp, but would actually leave with Guo Jing while abandoning Cheng Lingsu here all by herself.

By this point, Cheng Lingsu was gradually piecing the clues together. "Wanyan Honglie came here in secret, presumably to take the opportunity to provoke strife between Jamukha and my father, keeping the Mongol tribes at war with one another so that his Jin Dynasty would have no threats from the north."

Ouyang Ke had no interest whatsoever in such power struggles, but seeing Cheng Lingsu speaking with such earnestness, he nodded along and offered a compliment, "Drawing inferences about other cases from one instance—you truly are remarkably clever."

Reaching up to brush aside a stray lock of hair blown loose by the wind, Cheng Lingsu fixed him with a gaze as clear and biting as the waters of the Onon River on the grassland. "You are one of Wanyan Honglie's men, yet you let Guo Jing return to report and give warning, and now you have let Tolui go back to mobilize troops. Aren't you afraid of ruining his grand strategy?"

Ouyang Ke laughed heartily, reached out, and gently tapped her chin with his folding fan. "Afraid? What do his schemes have to do with me? If I can win a beauty's smile, what does all that matter?"

Far from smiling, Cheng Lingsu furrowed her brow, took half a step back to avoid the frivolous fan tracing toward her chin, and reached out, nimbly catching the pitch-black tip of the fan in the palm of her hand. A wave of bone-chilling cold pierced straight through her skin and into her bones, making her want to let go instantly. Only then did she realize that the ribs of his fan were forged from dark iron, cold as ice.

"What? Do you like this fan?" Ouyang Ke nonchalantly flicked his wrist, brushed Cheng Lingsu's hand away, and withdrew the folding fan. With a swift snap, he flicked it open and gently waved it before his chest. "If you fancy something else, I wouldn't mind giving it to you, but this fan..." He paused briefly in thought, then chuckled softly again. "If you like it, as long as you follow me step-for-step from now on, you'll naturally be able to see it at any time..."