As soon as the words fell,
the red cloth covering the girl’s eyes was removed as well.
Inside the pitch-black room, she still couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.
But just from that clear, melodious, and incredibly pleasant voice, it was obvious that the owner of the voice had to be a stunningly beautiful girl.
The moment she heard the voice, the girl froze, her pretty eyes full of question marks.
“???”
The next moment, a faint pearl-like glow lit up the dark room, and the owner of that lovely voice finally appeared before the girl.
She was a breathtakingly beautiful girl, with bright eyes that sparkled like stars.
Her long black hair cascaded down like a waterfall, and she wore a bright yellow dress that, even in the muddy, dim cave, was spotless and fresh, untouched by dust.
Her lips were soft and pink, the corners of her mouth curled up ever so slightly, and the look she gave the girl carried a subtle, teasing smile, making her seem even more noble and otherworldly, dazzling beyond compare.
The girl had expected to see a burly, rough-looking middle-aged man, but never imagined it would be such a stunningly beautiful girl standing before her.
Under the girl’s gaze, the girl’s cheeks flushed and she quickly looked away, not daring to meet her eyes.
Just as she was starting to feel a little shy,
the girl suddenly spoke: “The ninth princess of the Xia Emperor, the one you swore eternal love to, promised to hold hands with for life, and said you’d marry no one else but her—Xiao Minghuang—that’s me!”
Xiao Minghuang didn’t show any particular expression as she spoke, just repeated the girl’s earlier words in a clear, precise tone.
“Ah?!”
The girl jerked her head up, eyes wide in disbelief.
If she hadn’t been tied up from head to toe, she probably would have pounced on Xiao Minghuang, ripped open her clothes, and checked her chest to see if there really was a sesame-sized mole there.
“No way! Absolutely impossible!”
The girl forced a smile, twitching her lips.
“Miss, you must be joking.
With your looks, like a goddess descended to earth, why pretend to be someone else?”
In an instant, countless guesses flashed through her mind.
How could things be so coincidental? She left the city to train, ran into some evil cultivators, got caught, and tried to use the ninth princess’s name to scare them off—only to run into the real deal?
She didn’t care if anyone else believed it, but she sure didn’t.
Seeing the disbelief on the girl’s face, Xiao Minghuang felt helpless.
After taking out Chief Chen, the girl had jumped in and taken the lead.
Xiao Minghuang had just wanted to joke around a bit out of curiosity, but didn’t expect things to get so out of hand.
“I really am the ninth princess, Xiao Minghuang.
And I don’t have a mole on my chest.”
To the girl, whether the ninth princess had a mole on her chest or not didn’t matter anymore.
What really mattered was the unbelievably beautiful girl in front of her.
She looked about fourteen or fifteen, but already had a cultivation at the Qi Refining stage—there wasn’t a second person like that in all of Great Xia!
And this girl had just saved her.
What a wonderful stroke of fate.
She didn’t believe that someone this pretty, like a fairy, could be some evil cultivator.
From their earlier conversation, she could tell the girl was still young and playful, otherwise she wouldn’t have pretended to be an evil cultivator to scare her.
The girl curled her lips into a pitiful yet perfectly appropriate smile, her voice soft and a little choked with tears.
“Miss, I’ve been locked up by those bad guys for days.
I’m so tired, hungry, and thirsty.
Could you…”
Xiao Minghuang frowned slightly, wondering if this girl had some kind of mental problem.
How could she switch from being clever and calm to weak and helpless in the blink of an eye?
She sighed helplessly.
This was all because she’d been too playful.
If she’d just untied the girl and explained her identity from the start, there wouldn’t have been such a misunderstanding.
And from the way the girl spoke earlier, it was clear she was strong-willed, not some naive girl who could be convinced with a few words.
“Forget it.
Once we get to Beiyang City and meet the city lord, my identity will be clear.”
Xiao Minghuang reached out to untie the girl and explained, “I really am the ninth princess, Xiao Minghuang.
You can ask me anything about the imperial city, and I’ll tell you.”
As the ropes loosened, the girl twisted her body and fell right into Xiao Minghuang’s arms, not asking a single thing about the imperial city, but instead using the weakest voice she could muster, looking pitiful: “I’ve been tied up for days, I’m so tired and hungry, I can’t move anymore.”
Feeling the sudden warmth and softness in her arms, Xiao Minghuang frowned slightly.
She’d never been this close to anyone but Ruoshui before.
But after being tied up for so many days, exhausted and hungry, it was only natural to be weak.
Xiao Minghuang didn’t push her away.
She took a water flask from her storage pouch and handed it to the girl.
After chatting for a while, she learned the girl’s name was Lin Wanqiu, the only daughter of the Beiyang City Lord.
Seven days ago, Lin Wanqiu heard that a spiritual herb had appeared in the Wild Forest, so she left the city with a few guards.
After some searching, she found the herb, but was targeted by evil cultivators.
All her guards died protecting her.
Before she was caught, she hid the herb in a secret spot.
The evil cultivators wanted to find out where the herb was, so they hadn’t harmed her yet.
Earlier, when Xiao Minghuang pretended to be an evil cultivator and tried to bargain with her, Lin Wanqiu had already been suspicious—after all, they’d been asking about the herb’s location nonstop, so why suddenly stop now?
At first, she thought the chief didn’t know about the herb, but when she saw Xiao Minghuang’s true face, she realized there was no chief at all.
Lin Wanqiu rested her head on Xiao Minghuang’s lap, squinting her eyes and speaking softly: “Miss, you still haven’t told me your name.”
Xiao Minghuang sighed, her eyes full of sincerity.
“I really am the ninth princess, Xiao Minghuang!”
Lin Wanqiu blinked her beautiful big eyes, staring into Xiao Minghuang’s, trying to see something else in those bright pupils, but found nothing.
Xiao Minghuang felt a little strange—why did Lin Wanqiu keep staring at her?
“Could this pretty girl really be the ninth princess?”
A flash of confusion crossed Lin Wanqiu’s eyes, but it disappeared quickly.
“At this point, might as well just go along with it…”
After a while, she seemed to have figured something out and smiled sweetly: “Then I’ll just call you Miss Xiao!”
Seeing that the other girl still didn’t believe her, Xiao Minghuang shook her head slightly and stopped trying to explain.
Once they got to Beiyang City and met the city lord, the truth would come out.
As they chatted, time passed quickly.
During their conversation, Xiao Minghuang frowned and asked, “Miss Lin, do you know where the civilians captured by the evil cultivators are being held?”
At this, Lin Wanqiu’s expression turned unusually serious.
She reluctantly crawled out of Xiao Minghuang’s warm embrace and said, “Follow me.”
Then, Lin Wanqiu led her back to the stone building, where they found the imprisoned civilians in the back hall.
Inside two huge cages, young women and children were being held separately.
All of them were tied up with ropes, their eyes covered with white cloth, and their mouths gagged.
None of them moved at all.
“Someone probably couldn’t hold on any longer…” Xiao Minghuang frowned slightly, golden light flickering at her fingertips as she slashed the iron cage open.
Lin Wanqiu hurried forward to untie everyone’s ropes.
After counting, they found that half of the civilians who had been captured were already dead.
When she heard this, Lin Wanqiu’s already pale and thin face turned even more ashen.
“These are all my people from Beiyang City…” Of the survivors, some were shaking like leaves, while others didn’t move at all.
It was obvious their spirits had been deeply traumatized, and even if they spent the rest of their lives, it would be hard to recover.
