Chapter Twenty-Six: The Thin Veil About to Be Pierced!

Page (1/3)

As Qin Yong appeared before Ashina Yanyun with a savage grin, the twin hammers in his hands radiated an overwhelming dominance.

At that moment, even someone as powerful as Ashina Yanyun had no choice but to reconsider the weight of Lin Qian’s words.

After all, in this world, there were many people one could afford to offend. But offend certain individuals, and the price would be one’s life.

For now, Ashina Yanyun clearly had no intention of paying such a price.

“Very well.”

With that, Ashina Yanyun calmly took the treasure from his robes and tossed it toward Lin Qian.

“This is yours. I admit defeat.”

“As for the Thirteenth Princess of Great Qian, I will return her to you today as well!”

Yet in the very next moment, the corners of Ashina Yanyun’s lips tightened slightly.

“However, let me tell you this: one day, I will personally lead an army into Great Qian and marry the Thirteenth Princess. If she refuses, then when that day comes, I will personally trample your capital beneath my feet!”

“Let us go!”

Having issued such a bold declaration, there was naturally no reason for him to remain.

The twenty thousand heavily armored cavalry withdrew from Maplewood Ferry.

Ye Huang’s carriage was slowly escorted toward Lin Qian.

Only then did Ye Huang’s heart finally settle back into her chest. The humiliation she had suffered in the Northern Wu military camp still rankled whenever she recalled it.

But that humiliation had now become a thing of the past. When Ye Huang saw the familiar face before her, her eyes instantly filled with tears.

“Brother Lin Qian!”

The corners of Lin Qian’s mouth curved faintly, as though a great stone in his heart had finally fallen to the ground.

In this world, there were few people Lin Qian truly worried about.

Strictly speaking, there were only his grandmother and Ye Huang.

As for that woman...

A trace of sorrow lay hidden in Lin Qian’s eyes.

Before he could react, a warm, soft body carrying a faint fragrance suddenly threw itself into his arms.

A moment later, Ye Huang began to sob.

She was still too young. Though she normally preferred weapons to rouge and always appeared strong and unyielding, at heart Ye Huang was still a favored daughter of Heaven.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

Yet she revealed this delicate, girlish side of herself only in front of Lin Qian.

After crying to her heart’s content, Ye Huang reached out and gently touched Lin Qian’s firm, handsome cheek.

“How have you lived these past three years? During that time, I traveled between the capital and Chunping City dozens of times. Every time I pleaded with Father, he refused. Was it all because of the Celestial Heart Glazed Stone from back then?”

Ye Huang naturally could not understand the true workings of an emperor’s heart.

The Celestial Heart Glazed Stone had merely been an excuse to placate the civil and military officials. Ba Qingdi’s true purpose was to weaken the Western Expedition Prince’s Estate and replace its heir with someone who would accomplish nothing and lacked the ability to control the army.

That way, he could resolve the problem of the Western Expedition Army growing too powerful to control, and would no longer need to fear that the young Lin Qian might one day achieve such merit that he overshadowed the throne and held the entire court in his grasp.

“Let us not speak of it anymore. Those matters are over. From now on, I have nothing more to do with the Western Expedition Prince’s Estate. Whatever news they have, do not bring it before me.”

“Except for Grandmother!”

Of the only two people Lin Qian cared about in this world, his grandmother held the highest place in his heart.

“Sniff.”

Ye Huang drew a hard breath through her nose. Looking at the White-Pole Soldiers and the three thousand elite troops Lin Qian had brought, she suddenly let out a laugh.

“Were you exiled here? To stay with me? Are you leaving again?”

There was a flicker in her eyes as she asked, in a joking tone, about the matter she truly cared about.

With her hands clasped behind her back, Ye Huang looked both charming and adorably naive.

Lin Qian’s thoughts stirred.

In truth, he had known for a long time that Ye Huang had feelings for him.

He was Great Qian’s undisputed God of War, a scion of one of its great clans, but that did not mean his heart was truly as cold and hard as stone.

He could see clearly who treated him well and who admired him with single-minded devotion.

Especially after three years apart, Ye Huang had blossomed into a woman with a graceful, shapely figure. Even the harsh frontier had failed to mar her features; she seemed beautiful by nature.

The more closely Lin Qian studied her face, the more it awakened memories of his life as a modern man.

Her face bore a striking resemblance to that of Brigitte Lin, and those tender, expressive eyes in particular completely changed his impression of Ye Huang.

After all, three years earlier, Ye Huang had still been a young girl waiting to bloom. Even her features had not yet fully matured.

Now she had grown into a poised and graceful young woman, suffused with a vigorous, martial spirit. Lin Qian could not help sighing.

“Heaven really has not treated me badly.”

“What?”

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

It seemed Ye Huang had heard his muttered words, for she could not help asking in confusion.

“Nothing, nothing! We have not seen each other for three years, and you have grown up.”

Lin Qian gave a sheepish laugh, but he soon remembered something.

Three years earlier, Ba Qingdi had arranged a marriage for Ye Huang. The man she was meant to marry was the heir of the Prince of Annam.

Though the Prince of Annam ruled over a remote and narrow territory, he was ambitious while remaining unfailingly submissive to Great Qian.

However, three years ago, when Lin Qian was sent to the Imperial Horse Directorate for his crimes, Ye Huang had flown into a rage. She entered the palace to plead for him and did not hesitate to sever her already tenuous father-daughter relationship with Ba Qingdi completely.

Ba Qingdi used the opportunity to order Ye Huang to marry. But Ye Huang quickly made her way to Chunping City, claiming that the troops belonging to her maternal family were unruly and that, without her return to discipline them, trouble was bound to arise.

Thus, after one delay followed another, the marriage was shelved.

While Lin Qian was in the Imperial Horse Directorate, he had also heard that the heir of the Prince of Annam eventually married the princess of the Jiangning Prince’s household in Great Qian. To calm Annam’s fury after Ye Huang unilaterally tore up the engagement and caused it to cease its submission, Ba Qingdi had specially granted the Jiangning Prince’s daughter, Lady Qingmiao, the title of Princess Ningguo and married her to the Prince of Annam.

“Little girl, I truly never realized how stubborn you were. You actually dared to reject a marriage personally bestowed by His Majesty.”

“Hmph! He was only the insignificant heir of the Prince of Annam. Who would take him seriously?”

Lin Qian looked at Ye Huang in astonishment.

Back in the capital, he had once met the heir of the Prince of Annam. The man was quite handsome, accomplished in both letters and arms, and was said to be a young grandmaster of Annamese martial arts. It was exceedingly rare for someone so young to reach such heights.

Yet, for some reason, Ye Huang simply could not bring herself to like him.

“Brother Lin Qian, do you really not know who I love?”

As Ye Huang spoke those words, it seemed as though the very air around them had frozen.

Lin Qian’s body went rigid.

But Ye Huang appeared to have made up her mind. Once, she and Lin Qian had been bound by fate yet kept apart by circumstance. Now, however, they were both free.

They would face their external enemies together in Chunping City and work side by side to build a future.

Today, no matter what, Ye Huang would break through that final barrier between them.

She had waited for so many years. She did not want to wait any longer.