Chapter 111: Abandon the City
Chapter 111: Abandon the City
Translated by: iris.knight
"Has it reached this level..." He muttered to himself as he left the room.
Eastern border of Nanyou
"Hold your formations!" A general commanded his troops, but his legs shook like jelly. That night, under the pale moonlight, the god of death himself had appeared and came to collect his toll. Murong Zuoyu danced across the battlefield in a silver armour, blood splattered across his stone-cold features. Truly, the stone-cold god of battle.
Western border of Nanyou
Qi Yichen waved his fan in one hand and directed the army of Xiqian with his other hand.
"Yes, that's right, that's it, yeah, you need to finish the job..." He walked up while snacking on melon seeds, and smacked down one of the enemy soldiers with his fan. "Don't blame me. Your emperor has simply gone too far! According to this scholar's predictions, you lot will be defeated today and your emperor will croak!"
Northern border of Nanyou
"I order you to take the city before dawn." Bei Cheng's voice was loud and clear despite the clashing sound of metal weapons.
"Yes!" The soldiers of Beiying fought bravely with their monarch's presence. Xiao Qi was also involved in the battle, Gu Qingyu's smile flashed in front of her eyes. Bei Cheng also joined his sister in the fray. Wait for me, Qingyu.
At Nanyou’s capital
Mo Bai sat in the great hall as people ran up to him one after another.
"Report:! Xuan Pass in the south has been breached!"
"Report! Tongyang Pass in the west has been breached!"
"Report! We have lost Castle Lian in the east!"
Mo Bai cradled a cup of tea in his hand. He raised the cup to his lips and downed the cup of tea in one slow draught. He gently placed the teacup on the table, then patted the white robe gracefully as he stood up. "Abandon the city."
The man's eyes widened. "Emperor! But..."
"Why didn't you hear what I said? Abandon the city!" Mo Bai walked outside with a faint smile on his lips.
The man squeezed out a reply from gritted teeth. "Yes!"
Gu Qingyu opened her eyes and looked out the window, it was already dawn.
She rubbed her head, she still felt fuzzy. "Anyone? Mo Bai?"
The door was quickly pushed open, and Mo Bai, who was wearing a white robe, came in with a gentle smile and a bowl of porridge in his hand. "Yu'er, you're awake?"
Gu Qingyu nodded. "Yeah! And I'm hungry!"
"Well then, have some porridge." Mo Bai sat at the edge of her bed. "After this, we'll head out and get something better."
"Good!" Gu Qingyu agreed cheerily, took the bowl and ate away.
Mo Bai stared at her quietly, his eyes were warm yet intense. He only schooled his features when Gu Qingyu looked up after she had finished her porridge. He gently plucked the bowl from her hands. "Yu'er, I'll be sending someone to bring you a set of clothes later. We'll head out after you change into that."
Gu Qingyu let out a laugh. "Eh? Okay!"
"Let me know the moment you're ready." Mo Bai walked out, and a maid entered the room with steady feet. In her hands was a large tray, yellow clothes stacked neatly on the tray. She knelt on the floor and greeted Gu Qingyu. "Your majesty."
"Oh, don't bow, please get up!" Gu Qingyu sat up straight and unfolded the garments.
The robe was golden yellow, to be specific. With the clearly valuable accessories and the phoenix embroidered on the fabric, all of these elements had made the garments importance and value clear. It's... a phoenix robe.
"It looks very beautiful, but I don't like such clothes," Gu Qingyu pouted as she glanced at the maid. "Go and ask Mo Bai if there's something else I can change into."
The maid gawked at Gu Qingyu. Your majesty, do you know what this is? This is the phoenix robe! The phoenix robe!
"What's wrong?" Seeing the maid's lack of response, Gu Qingyu placed the phoenix robe back on the tray with some disappointment. "No? Well, then I won't wear it."
The door was pushed open, and Mo Bai approached them with a smile. "Why, Yu Er, don't you like it?"
His usual white robe was replaced by a golden yellow robe, the same colour as hers. Mo Bai's robe had a life-like flying dragon motif splayed across instead.
"Mo Bai? Why are you wearing this too? They all look too fancy and serious, it doesn't really suit you." Gu Qingyu frowned.
Mo Bai laughed. "Then what kind of clothes do you think suits me better?"
"Blue!" Gu Qingyu blurted out without thinking, the look in his eyes changed, and she immediately clasped her hand over her mouth. "Sorry Mo Bai, it was the first thing that came to my mind...Should I not have said that?"
Mo Bai froze for a moment, then smiled again. "No, no. Yu'er, I also like blue, but we'll wear this for today, is that okay?"
"Okay, whatever you say!" Gu Qingyu also smiled and picked up the clothes.
Mo Bai nodded and walked out. The maid at her side stared at her with eyes as wide as saucers.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Gu Qingyu fiddled with the ornaments on her clothes. "Um...can you give me a hand with this?"
"Yes, yes!" The maid immediately came up and held up the robe as Gu Qingyu slipped into it, then adjusted the ornaments and accessories for her.
After finishing the adjustments, the maid looked up at the lady in front of her with shock.
"What is it?" Gu Qingyu asked with a smile. "I look amazing, right?"
Perhaps other people would call that lady arrogant, with that question. But she looked different in the maid’s eyes.
She looked generous and beautiful, and breathed new life into the phoenix robe. It no longer reminded the maid of absolute sovereignty and prestige encapsulated in time, instead, it felt pristine and alive.
The maid nodded. "Yes!"
Upon hearing her instant response, Gu Qingyu laughed even more.
"Your Majesty, this is..." The maid stared at the Divine Tune hanging from Gu Qingyu's neck.
Gu Qingyu looked down and discovered the whistle.
"What is this?" Gu Qingyu took it off curiously and looked around, but felt a slight pain in her heart.
Is this something related to the man named Ye Jin?
"Blow it when you miss me..."
A voice came gently with a breeze, and Gu Qingyu couldn't help but put the obsidian whistle on her lips and gently blew into it. There was no sound.
"Is this broken?" Gu Qingyu looked at the whistle strangely. She has no use for a broken whistle, but for some reason she couldn't bear to get rid of it. In the end, she placed the whistle back around her neck.
"Let me comb your hair for you!" The maid looked at Gu Qingyan so that she was no longer talkative and picked up the delicate comb. Gu Qingyu nodded, got up, and walked to the mirror.
After brushing her hair, Gu Qingyu stood up and almost fell back into her seat. The sudden weight of all of her hair accessories weighed her head down.
"Oh yeah, do you know why are we all dressing up like this? What is Mo Bai up to?" She asked while tinkering with accessories on her head.
"I-I don't know, your majesty." The maid's hand trembled as she answered, and the comb fell to the ground, splitting in half on impact. "Ah!" she yelped.
Gu Qingyu bent down to pick up the halves of the intricate comb and spliced them together. "What a shame, it's such a beautiful comb."
Immediately after Gu Qingyu sighed, the maid knelt on the ground and slammed her head against the floor. "It's your servant's fault! Your servant is too clumsy! Please forgive your servant!"
"Oh, stop that! Get up!" Gu Qingyu immediately pulled her up. "It's just a comb, you don't have to do this."
The maid stood up with shaky feet. "Please forgive your servant."
"I'm not even upset!" Gu Qingyu looked at her, completely befuddled. "I said it's okay...am I so scary?"
The maid shuddered. "No..." The terrifying one is the Emperor!
"Then everything's fine, right?" Gu Qingyu stood up and walked out of the door. The maid immediately lowered her head and followed.
Opening the door, Mo Bai stood under the gate of the palace, that familiar jade flute was still at his waist.
Mo Bai raised his head slightly when she stepped out, showing a gentle smile. "Yu'er, you look beautiful!"
"Um..." Gu Qingyu walked over with some embarrassment, My head feels so heavy, these things are so bulky."
Mo Bai laughed. "Yu'er, do you know that this is what all women dream of?" Perhaps, not all women...
"Huh? Well, since Mo Bai said so..." Gu Qingyu played with her hairpin. "Let's go!"
"All right, Yu'er." Mo Bai gently pulled Gu Qingyu's hand and walked toward a green passage.
At the same time, at the northern border of Nanyou
A man in a blue robe tore through the enemy ranks, bloodlust practically oozed from him. A wave of light flew out with a sweep of his sleeves. And he leveled his enemies in an instant. Alongside him were some well-trained men in black. Each of them fended off battalions on their own. At this moment, someone galloped towards him. "Jia Qizhe!"
Ye Jin stopped and looked back. Xie Zang stopped his horse right in front of Ye Jin. "Mo Bai made her take the Grass of Amnesia, she has already forgotten you."
"So what?" Ye Jin smiled, charming, but extremely cold.
"Now, there is only Mo Bai in her eyes." Xie Zang was also smiling, "You will get hurt if you go there, why do this to yourself? You're the leader of Ye, there must be someone out there for you."
"Are you done?" For a moment, Ye Jin's hands were covered in a black aura. "I just want my Xiao Yu'er!"
Xie Zang sighed. "Well, half a day later, when you get to the Imperial City, she will be waiting for you there."
"Oh? It seems that the Lord of Xieli Castle found a way?" Ye Jin tilted his head.
"Weren't you waiting for me to figure something out?" Xie Zang smiled and asked rhetorically.
"Do you know... she hasn't forgotten me..." Ye Jin clenched Ghost Howl in his hand, "just now... she blew the "Divine Tune" that I gave her... Xiao Yu'er was thinking of me... She misses me, I must go find her!"
"Now that you mentioned it, she does have some impression of you. It's quite strange." Xie Zang nodded. "You can come after I give her the antidote."
"I'll give it to her myself." Ye Jin's eyes sank. "Thank you, Xie Zang! Ye will remember your kindness."