The information brought over by Zong Sui’s prince Li Kun caused the Sixth Prince Xuan Tianfeng, Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua and the Ninth Prince Xuan Tianming to finally sit together and have a serious discussion. This was a discussion they had no choice but to have after more than 10 days of searching for Xuan Tianmo in secret and yielding no results.

  The changes in Zong Sui’s imperial palace, their intentions to betray Da Shun; the disappearance of the Eighth Prince, the suspects being the people under Zong Sui’s princess infiltrating into Da Shun and disguising as Feng Yuheng and Xuan Tianming; Xiao Bao leaving the hunting grounds and being abducted by people on the way, the Fifth Prince had searched for a few days and did not find him. The three day deadline which he promised Fendai had long passed, he currently did not have any face to meet Fendai.

  All of this indicated that the changes in Zong Sui’s imperial palace were already affecting Da Shun, and it was the other party would initiated this, with Da Shun being passive, they were already attacked until they did not know what to do. They could not allow Zong Sui to continue causing trouble like this, a huge battle was imminent.

  The trio discussed from noon until evening, even their dinner was casually settled in Heavenly Hall with one bowl of noodles each. Finally, Xuan Tianming said: “I should be the one going after all! For the four countries at the border, Zong Sui is the last trouble and would have to be eradicated sooner or later. There is no such thing as peace for more than a hundred years in this world. For chaos to occur in our generation, there is nothing we can do about it. However, sending troops to Zong Sui is not for the sake of helping that Li Kun, once that place is defeated, Da Shun needs to take over, otherwise, the same crisis will happen again sooner or later, we cannot leave a disease for our children and grandchildren.”


  At this, the Sixth Prince and Seventh Prince did not have any opposing opinion, it was just that when they heard that Xuan Tianming was going out to battle again, the pair frowned very deeply. The Sixth Prince said: “Over these years, it was always Ninth Brother who led the soldiers to battle outside, and you even sustained heavy injuries at the northwest in the past. Even though you recovered splendidly with younger Sister-in-law’s help, but thinking about it now, us as older brothers really owe you too much.”


  Xuan Tianming waved his hand in dismissal, “We are a family and should not act like strangers, who told us to have the last name of Xuan, and who allowed the ancestors of Da Shun to set the rule that the military powers must be held in the hands of our family. To the point that even though General Ping Nan also defended the southern border many years ago, in reality, those soldiers were still under the control of the imperial family and even the military tally was held in the hands of the old man.” He showed a troubled smile as he spoke, “It is hard to imagine, it is difficult to encounter a rebellion of the ministers even within a few hundred years, but princes fighting for power is something which is happening constantly.”


  The Sixth Prince still felt that he could not let it slide, “But it cannot be you all the time.”


  Xuan Tianming could not help but laugh, “If it’s not me, then will it be you? Forget it, Sixth Brother, you should wait until I defeat Zong Sui, then you can build more schools over there to have the people of Zong Sui learn our Da Shun’s books.”


  The Sixth Prince laughed as well, looking at this Ninth Brother helplessly, he did not know if it was because the husband and wife have lived together for a long time, but he felt that Xuan Tianming and Feng Yuheng started to resemble each other more, they gave off the same air, spoke the same way and even that arrogance and unrestrained personality was the same. He really envied them.

  The pair started to talk about the plans for the future, but the Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua had not spoken at all. Logically, this was not the first time Xuan Tianming took the initiative in requesting to go to battle, and he should be used to it, but for unknown reasons, he did not feel optimistic about this time, and he strangely felt the chills once Zong Sui was mentioned.

  This feeling was especially foreign to Xuan Tianhua, this was the result of an especially strong feeling of danger. In the past, he had never felt such danger, regardless of whether it was the northern border or the southern border, he had never worried for his younger brother who was the god of battle, even when Xuan Tianming injured his legs and face and returned from the northwest a few years ago, he had not felt the kind of fear he felt right now.

  If a deity-like person felt fear, that was an extremely scary thing, a strong feeling told Xuan Tianhua that with the Zong Sui battle this time, very bad things would happen, that those things would be so bad that they would not be able to withstand it, causing huge damage to their life force.

  Instinct told him that he had to persuade Xuan Tianming into giving this up, but he did not know how to carry out this persuasion, he could not say that it was his instinct, that person would not listen. Therefore Xuan Tianhua thought about it, saying: “Zong Sui is different from Qian Zhou and Gu Shu, it is the largest nation amongst the four nations, and is also the most abundant country. Because the country is rich, the citizens are strong, the loyalty of the citizens towards the country is also much higher. In order to protect their own country from being invaded by outsiders, even if we do not say that every citizen would be turned into a soldier, it is almost similar. We already know that Zong Sui has refined iron, every household has weapons made from refined iron, once a war happens, all of Zong Sui’s citizens can instantly become soldiers and join in the battle. In addition, even though our new steel can break refined iron, it was not as easy as breaking normal iron, all of these issues would bring about huge troubles for the battle. In addition, Zong Sui has a dense population and their population is not as sparse as inside Da Mo or the ice nation of Qian Zhou. It is impossible for Da Shun to not care about the normal citizens when attacking the cities, even though you have the Heavenly Thunder which can create victory, it might not be that easy to use in Zong Sui.”


  Xuan Tianhua’s analysis was comprehensive, he spoke about the situation in the east and laid out all the difficulties. In reality, he hoped that Xuan Tianming would give up on going into battle, and if the battle had to be fought, then, he was willing to go to battle in his place.

  However, Xuan Tianhua knew about these problems and Xuan Tianming also understood, he was also a stubborn person and no one could change what he decided. Xuan Tianming said: “With the matters surfacing, it would have to be solved, no matter how huge the trouble is, it will come to pass.” He dismissed that and looked at Xuan Tianhua, saying some words which only the two of them would understand: “Seventh Brother, just allow me to do something for Da Shun at the end! Everyone has their own responsibilities, if I do not take up this responsibility for Da Shun, sometime in the future…… I will regret it.”


  With him saying this much, what else could Xuan Tianhua say? He only stared at the teacup in his hands with a deep frown, his thoughts drifting to an unknown direction. Half a beat later, he heard the Sixth Prince Xuan Tianfeng say: “Since Ming-er insists on going, then bring more soldiers and horses, at least 500,000. It is alright to not defeat Zong Sui, but you must guarantee your own safety, understand?”


  Xuan Tianming nodded and did not reject it. Zong Sui was a huge country, 500,000 soldiers and horses were not exaggerated at all and it might not be enough. But more people needed to be left in Da Shun to defend against any sudden changes.

  It was not peaceful in the imperial palace, and was not that stable outside the palace as well, the Fifth Prince was still searching for Xiao Bao day and night, unable to eat well and sleep well, he did not take care of his hair properly and had not shaved for a few days, looking as unkempt as a beggar. But all of this was unable to fend off the self-blame in his heart, he did not watch Xiao Bao well and lost that child. Seeing that so many days have passed, with hope trickling away, sometimes he even started thinking, the child must be seen if he was alive, and even if the child died, the corpse must be found!

  As for Feng Fendai, she locked herself in the Crystal courtyard all day, not leaving the main gate or crossing over the second door. Dong Ying spoke to her about the Fifth Prince’s situation a few times and her brow furrowed slightly, but in the end, she did not ask anything about it. To the point that Dong Ying sometimes truly felt that her own Young Miss was really too cold-hearted, with such a good person like the Fifth Prince, how could he be treated like this? She even had the sudden urge to tell the truth, but she knew Fendai’s temper too well, once she said it, she would no longer have any way to live.

  Xiangrong, who stayed at Chun Palace the whole time, felt flustered recently, she did not know what happened in the capital, but she could tell that the Seventh Prince was busy recently, so busy that he would frequently go out at night. Putting aside how busy the Seventh Prince was, her Second Sister and Second Brother-in-law were equally busy, the two of them would come over occasionally to see Imperial Concubine Yun, but they always came quickly and left quickly. Their expressions were grim and spoke only a few sentences to her. She had suspicions in her heart but did not know who to ask.

  Imperial Concubine Yun concluded Xiangrong’s mental state as “anxiety before engagement”, she told Xiangrong: “We will make our move half a month before the mid-autumn festival and head towards Ji An Prefecture, calculating it now, it is only half a month away, but don’t you know go around the streets often, and buy whatever you want to buy. It is inconvenient for me to go out, so just treat it as you are shopping on my behalf, how’s that?’


  Xiangrong knew that Imperial Concubine Yun was concerned about her, but she did not want to go out. She felt stable and reassured staying in Chun Palace, once she went out, her heart would feel flustered. Even yesterday, when she saw her Second Sister out, she only took two to three steps out of the palace gates, but her feeling of safety strangely disappeared, only recovering when she stepped back through the palace gates.

  Seeing that she did not want to go, Imperial Concubine Yun advised her some more, but without even saying two sentences, a servant came to report: “Madam, Third Miss, Feng’s Fourth Miss came to visit, saying that she wanted to invite Third Miss out for shopping.”


  The two were stunned, Feng’s Fourth Miss? Feng Fendai? Why did she come?

  Imperial Concubine Yun asked with a frown: “Wasn’t it said that Feng Fendai isn’t close to all of you? Why did she suddenly come to ask you to go shopping?”


  Xiangrong thought for a while, saying: “A few days back at the hunting grounds, I slept in the same tent as her and talked about some things from when we were young, so we have probably gotten much closer. She has become frantic with boredom by herself, I will walk around with her!”


  Imperial Concubine Yun did not say anything more, after all, they were sisters and it was good that they could go out together. Therefore she waved a hand to dismiss Xiangrong and went to the back courtyard to play with that white tiger.

  When Xiangrong saw Fendai, Fendai was currently standing at the palace gate with a cold expression, the servants did invite her to sit at a shady place or go to the main hall directly, but Fendai rejected them, saying that she would leave after Xiangrong came and it was no trouble.

  Xiangrong approached quickly and without waiting for her to speak, Fendai pulled her arm, saying with an unnatural smile: “Third Sister, it has been a long time since we went shopping together, I have been frantic with boredom recently, why don’t we go out together and take a walk.” After she said this, without waiting for Xiangrong’s reaction, she pulled Xiangrong along and walked outside.

  Xiangrong was pulled on the street in a daze like this. They did not take the horse carriage, just walking like this. They walked rather quickly, with the two maids, Shan Cha and Dong Ying following them with a jog. She did not know what crazy antics Fendai was up to know, but thinking about it again, Fendai seemed to go crazy frequently, so she did not ask anymore. But she did not know, this morning, Fendai discovered a note next to her pillow, the note clearly asked her to look for Feng Xiangrong, and regardless of what method she used, she had to bring her to the dead end alley where she was freed the last time.

  Fendai had waited for this moment for a long, long time, she did not care about Xiangrong’s life and death, she was only focused on using Xiangrong to exchange for Xiao Bao, finally with news coming from the other party, she looked for Xiangrong at Chun Palace without any delay.

  She pulled Xiangrong towards the agreed location, as she walked, Fendai was also thinking, what method would the other party use to take Xiangrong away? In the middle of broad daylight? Under the eyes of so many people? However, these were not things she should think about, as long as she sent Xiangrong into the hands of the other party, she believed her Xiao Bao would be able to return quickly.

  As the pair walked, Xiangrong felt like this was done without purpose, but Fendai did remember the route when she escaped back to the Crystal courtyard. So she headed to that place while pulling Xiangrong, even speaking while walking: “It’s been a long since I went out shopping with Third Sister, walking on the streets just like this, it feels good!”


  As she spoke, her eyes lit up, about 50 paces in front, they were almost at the entrance of that alley……