Volume Two: An Abundance of Blossoms Always Feels Lonely
On the Qionglong Mountain
Her heart is already like dead ashes, thus there is no way to provoke it
The mission of the beauty trap consists of two parts: first, to steal the border city defense layout map from the Longcheng Military Intelligence Office; second, the reorganization strategy of the Red Armor Army, namely Qin Junlan’s compilation 《Military Strategy Treatise》. Currently, the world is divided into four, and none can rival the Ji Kingdom’s Red Armor Army. Once, the Yu Kingdom was a strong nation; now, it must fear Ji Kingdom somewhat. The monarch of Yu is incompetent, but Ling Yu is extraordinary, adept at strategy, seeking to build Yu into a nation equal in strength to Ji.
She will not allow her country to be oppressed, nor will she sit idly by, waiting for Qin Junlan to unify the world and make her a subject. No one can make Ling Yu humble herself.
She is quite cunning, able to devise countless strategies with a little thought. She knows how to read people, understand their use, and cultivate her own influence. She appreciates the importance of the strong remaining calm, like Liu Qianxun to her. Even if she harbors affection, she will not let herself falter or reveal her weaknesses.
Having a weakness is like being caught at a vital point, unable to realize ambitions, eventually cocooning oneself. Now she has placed such a weakness beside Qin Junlan, curious to see how this empress will choose between the nation and beauty.
She will let her possess the world’s most beautiful person but also lose everything; this is her original intention for using the beauty trap. Initially, she did not expect Qin Junlan to genuinely like women, only intending for Liu Qianxun to infiltrate the palace, even as a minor official or unnoticed maid, to steal what she desires.
Later, discovering Qin Junlan’s interest in Liu Qianxun, she continued the plan, formally implementing the beauty trap.
As the sun sets behind the western mountains, Weixian transforms into a twilight city, beautiful like a realm beyond the human world. Ling Yu had someone prepare wine and food, keeping Liu Qianxun there. She hadn’t dined alone with Liu Qianxun for a long time; since sending her to Jidu, their meetings have been rare.
“Xun’er, do you plan to return tonight?” Ling Yu poured her a cup of wine, her lips always hinting at an unfathomable smile. “I heard that at Jing Garden (Jingyuan) you got drunk, and Qin Junlan stayed with you all night?”
“Yes.” Liu Qianxun raised the cup and drank it in one go.
“Qin Junlan is genuinely moved by you; the entire palace was in turmoil over her absence from early court. Ji court’s dragon-taming whip has rarely struck emperors. This empress is indeed unprecedented.” Ling Yu spoke with a hint of schadenfreude, like an observer knowing everything. Even if she isn’t present, there is nothing happening in the four countries that she doesn’t know the inside story of.
Shura disciples are spread throughout the world, and in every country’s palace, Ling Yu has arranged spies. The intelligence and activities she controls are countless. Beyond the important intelligence between nations, she is also well-versed in many affairs of the martial world and among the common people, but her focus is entirely on the interests of Yu Kingdom.
“If she were not strong, how would she catch your attention?” Liu Qianxun poured and drank by herself, her expression indifferent. She didn’t know when it started, but the initial warmth and steadiness she felt with Ling Yu were gradually fading.
Ling Yu is a person with a very strong sense of purpose. Since the beginning of the beauty trap, every appearance she makes is for a reason. Just like this time, she doesn’t believe Ling Yu came just to tease her.
“Why is Xun’er so cold? It’s clearly May, yet there’s a chill about you.” Ling Yu’s gaze never left her. Although she can control her emotions and behavior, she is unwilling to miss every moment with her by her side, as her every move captivates her.
Liu Qianxun swirled the wine in her cup, coldly looking at Ling Yu. If she could see her own expression now, she wouldn’t have known that one day, facing Ling Yu, she would become so cold.
“Ling Yu, tell me, what has happened?” After a few drinks, Liu Qianxun didn’t wait for Ling Yu to speak and asked first.
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“Nothing can be hidden from you. I was wondering whether to tell you, fearing it would cause you worry…” Ling Yu understands Liu Qianxun well. If she hides something and it comes out later, it will surely anger her greatly, and she does not want to do anything to displease her now.
“Is it about my mother…” Liu Qianxun saw her troubled expression and guessed a thing or two, calculating that the letter she had Ye Ming deliver to her mother should indeed have arrived by now.
“Yes, she left the manor and even took your sweat-blood horse with her.”
“You promised to take good care of her.” Liu Qianxun lightly glared at her, her eyebrows knitted into a furrow. She had considered many possibilities but didn’t expect that her mother ultimately couldn’t restrain herself.
“If you had told me earlier about the past between your mother and Yi Qingyu, I would have sent someone to escort her back to Jidu. But since you kept it from me, she took the opportunity to leave when I wasn’t in the manor, and the servants didn’t dare to stop her.”
“This is my family matter, the Sect Leader need not worry.” Liu Qianxun stood up, intending to leave, but was pulled back by Ling Yu, “I have already sent people to investigate along the way and arranged personnel in Jidu. As long as she takes the route back to Jidu, she can be found. Don’t worry too much, Xun’er.”
“She doesn’t even know where Yi Qingyu is. How can she search? This subordinate takes leave.” Liu Qianxun hurriedly left, her mind focused on her mother’s safety, with no mood for romantic entanglements with Ling Yu, concentrating on strategizing.
“Xun’er!” Ling Yu took a few steps forward, but ultimately couldn’t stop her. She smiled bitterly, picked up the wine jug, and poured it into her mouth, the strong alcohol assaulting her senses. The wine spilled on her arm, and she rolled up her sleeve, the cinnabar mark under her left elbow faintly pricking her heart.
Liu Qianxun did not know that, that year, she had marked the cinnabar mark on her right arm and secretly planted this cinnabar mark on her own left arm.
Qionglong Mountain’s terrain is perilous, with refreshingly cool air and lush trees; the original mountain path has been carved into steps. Qin Junlan disguised herself as a grain merchant, accompanied by Li Yue and the shadow guard Xiao Yi. That day, she sent Xiao Yi to gather information, and now the two were disguised as her followers, with her acting as the behind-the-scenes boss, personally going up the mountain to discuss grain trade.
Such a large Qionglong Mountain could hide more than twenty thousand bandits, and from the foot of the mountain winding upward, Qin Junlan noticed more than a dozen outposts arranged in an interleaved pattern; all those going up the mountain could not escape the surveillance of these outposts. Besides the interleaved outpost arrangement, there was an interconnected message system, a defense method once used in battlefield troop deployment, beneficial for defense and extremely difficult to penetrate.
In those years, the former emperor’s Iron Guard was strong here. To ensure the Ji Kingdom’s army remained invincible, Qin Junlan studied military tactics, based on the Iron Guard’s foundation, researched new methods of troop deployment, and decisively reorganized the Iron Guard.
Now as she entered this mountain, she became more certain of her suspicions: this must be the base of the vanished Iron Guard. Unexpectedly, it was placed here? Who placed it? How are the large annual expenditures and grain supplies obtained? Besides corruption and exploiting the people, Qin Junlan could think of no other means.
After walking for a long time, they arrived at the bandit lair, all the checkpoints and terrain along the way imprinted in Qin Junlan’s mind.
Although Qionglong Mountain’s terrain is dangerous, halfway up the mountain, a military camp-style row house has been built, and besides the outposts, training soldiers can occasionally be seen. Wherever Qin Junlan’s gaze lands, there are remnants of the former Iron Guard, once the iron cavalry soldiers, now turned bandits. The turmoil of those years, though not under her command, bears an unshirkable responsibility on her part.
The Bai family father and son were indeed ruthless to have killed so many former veterans, but to intimidate two hundred thousand soldiers, besides strong suppression, there was truly no better method at that time.
The three were taken to a hall, and a soldier said, “Boss Yan, please rest here, I will call Elder Yun.”
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“Thank you.” Qin Junlan, holding a paper fan, looked around; this place resembles a military camp command post, with bows, arrows, and swords hanging on the walls.
Elder Yun… Qin Junlan quickly searched her mind. Back then, the three-layer soldiers of the Iron Guard were old troops of Cheng Wang Yunze, who was Yun Jin’s father. Yunze had a sworn brother, originally inconspicuous, who was later promoted and granted the name Yun Yao for risking his life to save Cheng Wang. There is indeed no such person in the Red Armor Army roster; could it be him…
“Where is Boss Yan?” The person wasn’t seen yet, but Yun Yao’s strong voice was heard first.
Qin Junlan stood up and saw that he was actually wearing military armor, with a sword at his waist. His military demeanor remained, and compared to his youthful arrogance of the past, he now had more of a general’s presence.
“I am Yan Mo, paying respects to Elder Yun.” Qin Junlan performed all the necessary etiquette rituals without omission. As the master saluted, her followers naturally followed suit.
“I heard you have grain?” Yun Yao went straight to the point, concerned only about the grain and not other matters.
Fortunately, when Qin Junlan first met Yun Yao, she was still a girl. Now with her aura and disguised as a man, Yun Yao could not connect her with the girl from the past.
“Yes, Jidu has harsh taxes on grain, making business difficult, so I headed south to seek opportunities. I was fortunate to learn of the grain shortage here and came specifically to discuss with Elder Yun. If you are interested in purchasing, I can have the grain transported to the mountain within three days. What do you think?” Qin Junlan spoke, articulating her purpose for coming up the mountain, her reason for being there, and Yun Yao’s needs, further alleviating his doubts.
She had heard that Yun Yao was not only brave and skilled in battle but also quite strategic. It was indeed a pity that such a person was not incorporated into the Red Armor Army.
“I have never heard of a large merchant family with the surname Yan in Jidu. Where is Boss Yan’s family located?” Yun Yao is a cautious person; even though he hasn’t been to Jidu for ten years, he understands the court and the capital’s dynamics.
“I follow my mother’s surname, and my maternal family is from the Wang clan lineage.”
“Wang clan? Is it the family of Grand Scholar Ji Qiuchen’s wife’s family?”
“Elder Yun’s knowledge is extraordinary, exactly.” Qin Junlan had long prepared all response strategies, offering plausible reasons, linking to well-known prestigious families, and those Yun Yao had heard of, naturally her teacher’s family.
Li Yue and Xiao Yi exchanged glances, acknowledging how smoothly the emperor made up stories without any flaws. They were concerned about how to respond to the other’s probing and doubts, but the master had already considered everything thoroughly. Observing her calm and composed demeanor, at ease, she did not seem like someone entering the tiger’s den, knowing that just one mistake could lead to death.
“The Wang family is indeed wealthy. If so, how much grain do you have?”
“How much Elder Yun wants, I have that much.” Qin Junlan smiled lightly, adding charm to her handsome face.
Yun Yao squinted his eyes as he gazed at her, momentarily lost in thought. Such a jade-like handsome man is truly rare.
“Hehe, very well, Yan Gongzi, first bring a batch of grain for me to see, and then I will tell you how much more is needed.” Yun Yao rose from his seat and slowly approached Qin Junlan, his eyes gleaming, and his tongue inadvertently glided over his lips like a hungry beast.
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“No problem, but I want to see the silver first.” Qin Junlan showed no fear; her generous and composed demeanor only enhanced her charm and was pleasing to behold.
“Hahaha, there’s no need to worry about silver, come with me, and I’ll let you take a look.” After saying this, he raised his arm intending to embrace Qin Junlan, but she skillfully evaded him. She deliberately quickened her steps, walking ahead, and said, “This Qionglong Mountain indeed has splendid scenery.”
“Uh, yes, Yan Gongzi, if you’re interested, you can stay for a few days.” Yun Yao awkwardly retracted his hand, realizing that impatience won’t get him anywhere and decided to calm down.
Li Yue noticed Yun Yao’s gleaming eyes and his constant attempts to make advances on Qin Junlan, and a bad feeling crept into her heart, “Oh no, this person might have taken a liking to the master. Look at the light in his eyes.”
“Isn’t the master currently disguised as a man?” Xiao Yi was puzzled and then suddenly realized, “Could it be, he has a preference for Longyang (male homosexual)?”
“Truly… a case of being too clever for one’s own good.” Li Yue shook her head helplessly.
Emperor, oh Emperor, are you a reincarnated enchantress? In female form, full of allure, and in male disguise, extraordinarily graceful—who in this world, male or female, can escape your timeless beauty?