After exging formalities, Aberd, the lord of Eastern Ling City, dismissed his attendants. Aloh his son, he fixed Axel with a stern gre. “How did the Winged Folk breach the city and plu dusk today?”

  Axel faltered, uo respond before Aberd smmed the desk. “Because of you! The twelve Artillery Corps rotate city defense daily. As duty officer, you mixed up the schedule, assigning the Third Corps—already tasked elsewhere—to guard the east gate. They couldn’t arrive in time, leaving a gap for the Winged Folk to storm in from the undefended east, killing dozens of citizens. What’s your crime?”

  Axel’s face paled, words failing him.

  Seeing his son’s ashen look, Aberd sighed. “I know you’ve been distracted tely, your mind elsewhere. But let me remind you: Yaoji’s not just a princess again—she’s betrothed to King Lie by the newly ed Emperor Yu. Yu owes his throo Lie’s support, and among the vassal kings, Lie wields the most power. her we nor even the Emperor afford to cross him. So, no matter how much you care for Yaoji, you ’t harbor any delusions.”

  Though Eastern Ling y far from the capital, Axel, a young official, uood the stakes.

  Over a decade ago, Emperor Zhengde was murdered by his brother, King Yong, his children hunted by rebels. Loyal ministers smuggled young King Yu and Princess Yaoji out of the capital. King Yu found refuge with King Lie, while Aberd secretly sheltered Yaoji. After the usurping Emperor Yong died, King Lie backed King Yu’s assion, and King Yu asded as Emperor Yu—rest Yaoji’s title—she was no lohe mysterious girl in their household.

  Axel nodded somberly. “I know.”

  “Also, we’re sending Princess Yaoji to the capital in two days. I didn’t want you esc her, but King Lie heard you slew a sea serpent single-handedly and wants to meet you. It’s a ce to win his favor—don’t miss it. With a new emperor, the court’s shifting. If we don’t prepare, we’ll be purged.”

  Aberd stepped fripping his son’s hand early. “Son, our family’s future rests on you. You ’t anger King Lie over personal feelings and doom us all.”

  Pain twisted Axel’s face, but he gritted his teeth and nodded.

  Pitying him, Aberd softened. “I know how hard it is to give up someone you love. But true heroes endure what others ’t, do what others won’t, and achieve what others don’t.”

  “Don’t worry, Father—I’ll remember,” Axel said, his expression steadying. Aberd nodded, patting his shoulder. “I’ll send your mentor, Yang Hao, with you to keep an eye. Be cautious on the road. It’s not peaceful—bandits, Winged Folk, Great Western spies, even rogue vassal kings. No mistakes.”

  “I uand.” Axel’s face grew grave.

  A day ter, the voy to escort Princess Yaoji to the capital set out from the west gate, heading for Jin City, the heart of Eastern Xuan Kingdom.

  The Third Artillery Corps of Eastern Ling guarded the journey, led by Yang Hao, with Axel, Aberd’s son, as deputy.

  Among them was a minure few remembered—a lowly sve and gifted poet, as the corps’ soldiers knew him.

  Xia Feng didn’t care how others saw him. No word of Dumas yet, but with his skills, he’d soon make a name on this ti.

  The capital, a hub of news, might yield clues faster.

  It was on the way—why not tag along with the army? It spared him the hassle of no money or ID. With the Cloak of Invisibility, he could slip away anytime. Plus, Axel and Yaoji treated sves detly, granting him freedom unheard of among tales of brutal masters.

  Xia Feng liked his current gig.

  Unbeknownst to him, his “poems” had earned him privileges—and Axel and Yaoji’s respect.

  It didn’t take long to bond with the corps’ thousand-plus soldiers. Now, nearly every mahis id-back poet-sve, his impromptu verses spreading through camp—like “Swing the bde at the devils’ heads…” or “I’m a soldier from the on folk…”

  The meanings eluded them, but ting them boosted spirits and lightened marches, especially in unison. Officers noticed and made poetry a marg staple.

  Word spread: bards could lift morale and sharpen soldiers’ edge.

  Through chats with the troops, Xia Feng pieced together Eastern Xuan Kingdom’s basics. Ontis’s mightiest nation, its yellow-skinern Xuanese were the most numerous.

  But long pead prosperity had rotted the ruling nobles, lost to dece.

  While f a brilliant civilization, they’d shed their quering grit and valor. Endless infighting weakehem further, until the rising Great Westerners crushed them, f a retreat to the rugged eastern hills. Their nds shrank by three-quarters, now a mere sixth of the ti.

  Their holy capital, Sun City, fell to the Great Westerners, who re “Poseidon” in honor of their sea god. Reg Sun City had been the Eastern Xuanese’s unyielding dream for a tury. The current capital, “Jin,” symbolized their westward resolve.

  Today, Eastern Xuan Kingdom couldn’t rival the thriving Great Western Empire. Were it not for the Copper Ridge Mountains barring the Empire’s iron legions, even this er wouldn’t hold.

  The Great Western Empire, a tury old, had crushed Eastern Xuaward, driven the Semu tribes west, allied with the northern Snow Lands, and pacified the southern Sea Kingdom. Even the sky’s top hunters, the Winged Folk, and the sea’s mightiest, the merfolk, bowed to its edge. It reigned as Atntis’s unrivaled political, eid military titan.

  Yet even in this dimiate, Eastern Xuan’s infighting persisted. Over a decade ago, the usurping Emperor Yong died, and King Lie’s fa ed a new ruler—King Yu, son of the sin Emperor Zhengde—deposing Yong’s heir, Prince Su. King Yu asded as Emperor Yu. A purge swept away Su’s supporters. Eastern Ling City, in the barren northeast, escaped the chaos.

  Xia Feng cared little for history—he just wahe best intel hubs. Finding one man across Atntis’s two-to-three-thousand-li expanse was like fishing a needle from the sea without tricks.

  A nearby ruckus caught his ear. Camp dowen sparked squabbles, but this felt off.

  Peering closer, he saw soldiers hauling a sy trooper to Axel. One g her face, and Axel’s expression darkened. “Nonsense!” He waved at an aide. “Send her back!”

  Her ill-fitting uniform and oversized helmet hid half her face, but Xia Feng reized her—Ji Xuanxuan, the sve trader.

  She pouted pitifully, tugging Axel’s sleeve. “Cousin, take me to the capital! I’ve never been to Jin City—let me tag along a. I’ll follow orders like your soldiers, promise!”

  “No way!” Axel swatted her hand off. “This is the army, not home! Back to Eastern Ling City now, or I’ll have you escorted!”

  Seeing his unyielding stance, Ji Xuanxuan flung his arm away, up. “Fine, I’ll go! My legs, my choice—this road to Jin isn’t yours. I’ll get there myself!”

  She stomped off, but Axel sigo stop her. Knowiubborn streak, he feared she’d trek to the capital alone—a dangerous gamble.

  Caught in a bind, he paused as a lookout shouted: “Winged Folk! Northeast—Winged Folk spotted!”

  “Alert!” Axel barked. Soldiers scrambled, nog crossbows skyward. Two Winged Folk circled uhe su, like white eagles in the northeast sky.

  Seeing just two, Axel rexed. Were they strays or scouts? Winged Folk couldn’t sustain long flights deep innd unless aided by colborators with rest stops.

  “Add a patrol—stay vigint!” Axel lowered his crossbow, signaling a return to tents to avoid tipping their strength.

  With Winged Folk around, letting Ji Xuanxuan leave grew riskier. After a moment’s thought, he relented. “You ’t pass as a soldier or travel as kin—so you’ll join as Yaoji’s maidservant. That’s the only way I’ll allow it.”

  “Maid it is!” She ditched the heavy sword a, letting her jet-bck hair cascade down like a waterfall, reg her feminine look.