He imagined that the Imperial Capital would be filled wth fluttering snow. At the street corner of some alley, she would stop for him, a beggar. She could squat down beside him, give him the last and most perfect pity of his life. Intoxicated by his imagination of that perfect moment, he would smile. 

However, 

That dream was shattered so cruelly. 

With this illness-riddled body, he was still painstakingly planning that dream, but the person he had wanted to die by her side, had already turned into dry bones, dissolved in the howling wind of the four seas, and disappeared without a trace. 

Collapsed on the ground, all he could feel was the hollow emptiness in his heart, like an old window paper, cracked by the wind of fate, and could never be repaired.  

In the emptiness, he heard Feng Zhi Wei’s voice. The voice seems real yet like an illusion at the same time, ringing beside his ears. 

“When the flying birds are gone, the good bows are hidden away. When the rabbits die out, the running dogs are cooked. As vast as this world is, then that’s how cold an emperor can be. She died in the Ning’an Palace of Tiansheng Palace. It was snowing heavily when she died. After her death, she was given a simple (cheap) coffin. This is Tiansheng Empire for you. This is the final fate of the woman general with outstanding achievements. My General Qi…the general she trusted the most all those years ago. When you were ignorant, no one blamed you for standing silent, and unmoving. But now that you know, then, what should you do?” 

Qi Wei slowly raised his head. In an instant, his handsome face was full of wrinkles, as if he had aged ten years. 

After a while, he whispered, “All these years, I have never forgotten a single day of my homeland and the Fire Phoenix. I gathered all the old subordinates who were scattered in Xiliang, had them develop under my command first, and then sent them to various mountains to earn a living. Xiliang’s central power had been in chaos in recent years and had no time to pay attention to us. Our forces have all developed very well. My Shaojun is now the leader of the Green Forest Alliance in the entire western part of Xiliang…” 

Feng Zhi Wei started to chuckle softly.

She turned around, supported her hands on the platform, raised her head slightly, and listened to the sound of birds soaring through this vast mountains and sea of clouds. The white clouds in the sky were like cotton wool, like the feathers that had accidentally been shaken off by a flying phoenix. 

Vaguely, she could seemingly see the smiles of those who had passed on, looking down from afar with a smile in the clouds, with expectant eyes. 

She closed her eyes, the wet wind was like a cold kiss touching her cheek. In that icy sea of kisses, she let her mind go far far away, as far as the vastness of the four seas but there was still a slight pain buried deep in her heart. 

She heard Qi Wei ask behind her, “I want to reorganize the old team…with what name?”

The corner of her lips curved up, it wasn’t a smile, just a cold chilling arc.

She said: 

“Fire Phoenix.” 

 ********************************************

When it was getting dark, there was a sudden commotion in the Tianfeng village, and then a black shadow darted out of the village gate. The young village leader chased after the shadow personally, and after a while, he came back cursing loudly. 

The people of Tianfeng Village were in a chaotic commotion for a while, not knowing what had happened. When they saw Qi Shaojun come back with a cold stony expression, they finally realized that the hostage they had captured that afternoon had escaped. 

Everyone thought it wasn’t unexpected that their hostage had escaped. That young man was obviously not someone who could easily be messed with. If he had stayed any longer, who was to say what trouble he would’ve caused and might even destroy the hard work they had built in the last ten years in an instant. 

Qi Shaojun returned to the village with a sullen face just to be greeted by everyone’s relieved expressions. While everyone was relieved, his heart was burning up with fire– his father had asked him to put on a show with that guy in order to send him out. His father then ordered him to call for a Western Border Green Forst alliance meeting. His father suddenly gave such an order but refused to give the reason. Could it be that the kid had bewitched his father with sweet words? 

Now they are really going to lose the decades of work they have built. 

Even though he was upset inside, he still did not dare to disobey his father. He lost his mother at a young age and was raised by his father. His father is like the very sky to him. He has long formed the habit that he could break all rules except disobeying his father. Left with no choice, he could only head back to his room to write a letter, a letter to summon all the Green Forest strongholds to gather to discuss important matters.  

******************************

Feng Zhi Wei pretended to escape from the village, climbed over a hill, and passed a wild peach forest. The leaves above her head rustled, and with a snap, a green wild peach hit her shoulder. 

She looked up with a smile and saw the Gu family father-daughter duo peaking out from among the green leaves and peaches. One had a white fluttering veil, and the other was making puckering faces– she got the munchies, stole a bite of the peach, and got soured out. 

Looking at the two faces, Feng Zhi Wei felt warm and peaceful. The surging and sad emotions caused by the conversation with Qi Wei gradually became peaceful and calm, just like the rolling river water encountering the spring breeze. She raised her face, smiled softly, and said, “Have you been waiting for me for a long time?”

Master Gu ate his walnuts and said, “No, it took some time to chase the monkey away.” 

“Where is the monkey now?” Feng Zhi Wei spoke to him as if they were having a coded exchange. 

Master Gu slowly pointed to a hill in the far far distance and said matter of factly, “There is a swamp.” 

Feng Zhi Wei choked and started to laugh mercilessly.

A certain poor guard…

Being sent on an envoy mission to Xiliang, she already had other plans of her own. When her mother died, she left some things to her, and also told her about her scattered old subordinates in the border region of Xiliang. Since this matter was confirmed by Commander Qiu, then naturally, she must find a way to contact them. (I just realized Xiliang’s Commander Qiu has the same last name as Madam Qiu. They actually don’t share the same last name in Chinese but since the pronunciation is the same, the English translation makes it look like they have the same last name.) Thus that’s how the “abduction” incident came to pass. However, this matter had to be kept secret from everyone, including Guard Ning. This was why she was abducted over in one direction, and Gu Nan Yi promptly went over the other direction to “rescue her”. The rescue was fake. The real purpose was to lead Guard Ning to wander around aimlessly in the mountain. Now it seemed that Gu Nan Yi had not only successfully turned a certain guard completely around but had even led him into the swamp. 

Will he fall into the swamp and be unable to climb out? Feng Zhi Wei pretended to be worried for the briefest bit then calmly called out to the two, “Let’s go back!” 

Taking the time to enjoy the scenery along the way, the three of them walked back to the valley entrance leisurely. Before they even got close, they could hear loud chaotic voices arguing. After listening closely, it turns out that the group of envoy leaders was still arguing at the mouth of the valley regarding the “rescue plan”. 

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Ps. I will admit up to this point, I have been rather annoyed with Madam Qiu. While she did seem to care about her two children to a certain extent, I find it hard to understand and forgive someone who was so obsessed that they were willing to sacrifice both of the kids she raised for their very pointless “greater purpose”. The whole thing seemed that much more ridiculous to think that Madam Qiu’s husband, for all intents and purposes, would be considered a subordinate who should be loyal to the royal blood, but instead, because of his own selfishness, ignored his master’s direct order and decided to use the last remaining royal bloodline to achieve his own dream. However, I think the last two scenes did soften my attitude towards Madam Qiu just a tiny bit…now she just seemed like a very very tragic character who was probably so desperate to be loved and to be loyal to something that wouldn’t betray her that she swallowed hook and sinker into her husband’s obsession. That of course in a way is also what’s happening with our heroine. Her emotional attachment to her family is so great that she is planning to go full steam ahead on the path Madam Qiu had laid out for her…but our heroine is smart enough that she is doing it with her eyes wide open- with the full knowledge that her adoptive parents’ obsession was just that, obsessions…and the fact that achieving their obsession would destroy any chance of happiness she might’ve had with Ning Yi.  

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