The night deepened. Aside from the sentries on watch, most of the people had already drifted into sleep.
A moment later, a shadow almost indistinguishable from the darkness appeared soundlessly in the shelter of the rock wall, ghostlike and noiseless.
Song Ze dropped to one knee before Zhan Haoting without making a sound.
Zhan Haoting did not open his eyes. His lips moved slightly as he issued an order through an extremely faint transmission of internal energy, audible only to the two of them.
“Pass down the order. ‘Jingzhe’ is to begin. Activate all our hidden agents and informants in every region. Have A-Three take over the businesses in the northwestern desert. Sort out the accounts, secretly recruit refugees, and train them under the guise of caravan guards. B-Seven is to open up the salt routes in Jiangnan. Tell Tianshu that the time has come. He may begin secretly recruiting troops and building up our forces. Prepare grain, provisions, and weapons according to the third plan.”
His arrangements were clear and concise, yet they contained enough power to unleash storm waves across the realm.
The network of forces that had lain dormant for years began slowly turning its gears at his first command, preparing to rise with overwhelming force amid the chaos of the dying dynasty.
Song Ze lowered his head and accepted the orders without question.
After a moment, he hesitated before asking through the same transmission, “My Lord, the case in the capital is deeply entangled. Should we mobilize the ‘Earth Net’ to investigate the mastermind behind it? We might be able to find the person responsible for clearing your name—”
“No need.” Zhan Haoting cut him off, his voice cold. “The waters are too murky. Intervening now would only alert the snake. Our focus is not the imperial court, but building our own strength.”
He paused, then his tone softened slightly as he added, with unmistakable emphasis, “Also, send people to the capital to locate Yao’er’s maternal grandmother and her elder sister Cheng Ling’s family. Protect them in secret and make absolutely certain they remain safe. If anything happens to them, bring me your head.”
Song Ze’s heart jolted. He immediately answered solemnly, “Yes! I’ll personally arrange trustworthy men!”
The shadow beneath the rock wall shifted faintly, and Song Ze vanished as silently as he had arrived.
It had all happened in utter silence.
Cheng Yao, asleep against his shoulder, seemed completely unaware.
In truth, she had heard every word.
When Zhan Haoting said, “Send people to protect her grandmother and elder sister,” the sensitive, uneasy heart she had kept suspended finally found a place to settle.
So he had been doing his best to protect her family after all.
An indescribable warmth and sense of security enveloped her.
She endured it for a long while before pretending to turn over in her sleep.
Zhan Haoting caught her steadily, then slowly lowered her body and settled her down.
Afterward, he lay beside her as well, his hot hand wrapped around her waist.
They were so close that their breaths mingled. Cheng Yao nearly lost her rhythm of breathing. She silently began counting sheep and soon truly fell asleep.
She failed to notice the barely perceptible curve at the corners of Zhan Haoting’s lips.
The temperature dropped in the middle of the night. Many people were awakened by the cold and instinctively added firewood to the campfires. Once their bodies had warmed, they sank back into deep sleep.
When Cheng Yao woke, she slipped into her space under the cover of the rock wall.
The space was filled with an indescribable energy—something she called primordial spiritual energy—and it made her feel far more comfortable.
She carefully planted the aged poria cocos and dendrobium in the open ground beside the spirit spring.
As for the precious purple mushrooms, she placed them in a damper area.
Finally, she took out the two fantastical seven-leaf flowers.
Their buds shimmered with seven-colored light, appearing even more mysterious within the primordial space.
She planted them in the spot beside the spirit spring, closest to its source.
Looking at these hard-won treasures, Cheng Yao thought for a moment, then scooped up a small handful of spring water with a spoon and watered them.
She dipped her fingers into the water and let droplets fall over the poria cocos and dendrobium.
She gave the purple mushrooms a little more of the spirit spring water, then poured the rest over the seven-leaf flowers.
A miracle occurred!
After being watered with the spirit spring, the poria cocos and dendrobium grew visibly plumper and more lustrous. The herbal essence they gave off became noticeably richer.
The caps of the purple mushrooms deepened into a brilliant, profound violet, as though light were glowing within them.
Most astonishing of all were the two seven-leaf flowers. Their buds expanded slightly, and the seven-colored radiance flowing around them became even more vivid and vibrant.
Every plant grew a little taller in an instant, brimming with even greater vitality.
“The spirit spring truly has an astonishing effect on the growth and nourishment of plants!”
Cheng Yao was overjoyed. With the spirit spring and her space, she essentially possessed a portable garden of rare medicinal herbs and an inexhaustible reserve of medicinal materials!
Her gaze fell upon the dazzling seven-leaf flowers.
The Herbal Compendium recorded that these flowers contained a strange vitality and would surely be of immense benefit to Zhan Haoting’s injuries. Just one petal might be enough to restore most of his strength…
Her hand lifted slightly, and she focused her thoughts, intending to pluck one.
But in the next moment, she hesitated.
Zhan Haoting’s promise that night had moved her, while the forces he was secretly laying out had also left her deeply shaken.
This man was calculating and unfathomably deep, with a will as hard as iron. He was clearly no ordinary man.
For now, he needed her, so perhaps he would tolerate and protect her in every way. But if one day he regained power and reached the pinnacle of authority, would he still be able to tolerate a wife who knew so many of his secrets, who might even threaten him, and whose origins remained a mystery?
And then there was that “shocking case,” hanging over them like a sword suspended above her head. If he discovered that she was responsible, how would he treat her?
If she brought out such an extraordinary flower, would it provoke even deeper investigation from him?
Before she could fully control the situation and guarantee her own absolute safety, this trump card could not be used lightly.
Trust needed time to take root and grow—especially in these chaotic times, when danger lurked everywhere and power struggles raged on all sides.
In the end, Cheng Yao withdrew her thoughts.
She gazed at the two beautiful seven-leaf flowers and said silently, Just wait a little longer… Wait until the time is more suitable, until our relationship is stronger.
She left the space and lay down beside Zhan Haoting. Listening to his steady heartbeat, she soon fell asleep once more.
Above the wilderness, only a sparse scattering of stars remained in the night sky.
…
At the same time, several dozen li away, in a damp cave hidden within a mountain valley—
The light was dim, and only a small pile of firewood provided a faint glow and a trace of warmth.
Zhan Yurong carefully carried a battered clay bowl filled with dark, bitter medicinal broth.
She helped the feeble Shao Yutong sit up and fed the medicine to her.
During the day, the mother and daughter had exhausted themselves trying to catch up with the exile convoy, but Shao Yutong had always been frail. Overcome by anxiety and fatigue, she had collapsed in the roadside grass and lost consciousness.
Terrified and helpless, Zhan Yurong had clung to her mother and wept bitterly.
Fortunately, an old physician who had been gathering herbs in the mountains happened to pass by. Taking pity on them, he brought them to this cave and treated Shao Yutong.
The cave was a temporary resting place for hunters and herbal gatherers. Inside were dry firewood, fire starters, a clay pot, and even bowls and chopsticks, making it quite convenient. That was how Zhan Yurong had managed to boil the medicine and feed it to her mother.
Shao Yutong choked and coughed a few times before barely swallowing the medicinal broth.
