A breeze passed by her ears, and countless roars of beasts seemed to brush past her. By the time Ye Lingyue came back to her senses, she found herself at the entrance of Black Valley.

Qiu Tian and the gigantic Cannibal Flower were nowhere to be seen, as if everything had been a dream.

But when she looked down, she discovered an additional soft Flower Vine in her hand.

"Ling Yue!"

A rush of urgent voices came from beside her, and turning around, Ye Lingyue saw Lan Cai'er and several Daxia Soldiers hurriedly approaching.

Ye Lingyue casually tucked away the Flower Vine, and only when the group approached did she make out that one of the Daxia Soldiers was her own mother, Ye Huangyu.

"Sister, I have finally found you," Ye Huangyu hugged Ye Lingyue tightly, her voice filled with tension.

"..."

It was only after Ye Lingyue met up with Tiger Wolf General Nie Fengxing and the others that she realized her mother had become a soldier at the Northwest Tiger Wolf General Camp.

Tiger Wolf General Nie Fengxing had already ordered his soldiers to clear all the corpses of the Northwest Trading Team, and he had sent people to notify the nearby city officials. By tomorrow, someone would come to collect the bodies and deal with the aftermath.

"So, you are Ye Huang's sister?" Nie Fengxing sized up Ye Lingyue, and after noting the resemblance between Ye Lingyue's features and those of Ye Huangyu, he murmured with suspicion in his heart.

Wasn't it said that Ye Lingyue was an adopted sister without blood ties to Ye Huang's family? But comparing her with Lan Cai'er, Nie Fengxing felt that they looked more like real sisters.

"Reporting to the General, I am Ye Lingyue, indeed the... sister of Ye Huang." Ye Lingyue glanced at her mother and then at the stern-faced Tiger Wolf General sitting upright before her.

Her mother looked uneasy, carefully scrutinizing the Tiger Wolf General.

Ye Lingyue's eyes whirled, which was rather unusual. The mother she remembered, who was never afraid of anything, seemed quite afraid of the Tiger Wolf General.

"I heard you entered Black Valley. How did you get out?" Nie Fengxing was curious, looking at Ye Lingyue's thin arms and legs, she did not seem to be someone who could have ventured into Black Valley alone.

"Reporting to the General, it was actually a misunderstanding, I did not go deep into Black Valley. Last night, people from the Blood Blade Mercenary Corps intended to harm me, and in a moment of desperation, I fled into Black Valley. Halfway through, I accidentally fell. When I woke up, it was already daylight, and I just randomly chose a direction and walked out," Ye Lingyue explained with an obedient appearance.

Lan Cai'er and Ye Huangyu, who knew her temperament, simultaneously thought to themselves.

"Just keep pretending, keep on pretending."

But the Tiger Wolf General didn't know that. Seeing Ye Lingyue as merely a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old, frail young girl, he naturally did not believe that she could truly have ventured into Black Valley.

"I see, it's good that you came out safely, otherwise who knows what state Ye Huang would have been in," Nie Fengxing looked at Ye Huangyu.

If it hadn't been for his military orders as a threat, Ye Huang would have already rushed into Black Valley without regard for the consequences.

Ye Lingyue glanced at her mother and then back at Nie Fengxing, sensing something was off. She felt that some changes had happened to her mother after not seeing her for a while, and these changes seemed to be related to the Tiger Wolf General.

Ye Lingyue now only wanted to have a private chat with her mother to find out what exactly had happened to her during the past four months.

After the routine questioning, Nie Fengxing left the mother and daughter, along with Lan Cai'er and others, and went to handle official affairs.

As soon as he left, Ye Lingyue couldn't wait to ask and learned that Ye Huangyu had already arrived at the Northwest Tiger Wolf Camp more than four months ago.

"Don't blame your adoptive parents for not informing you. It was me who told them not to say much. But I never expected you, child, to cause such a commotion in Xia Capital in just over four months." After hearing about Hong Fang's dismissal and the Crown Prince's dethronement from Ye Lingyue, Ye Huangyu was also quite alarmed.

Her daughter really had the character to fear neither heaven nor earth.

"Mother, if I dare to do it, I will have no regrets. I only ask mother one question, if one day I kill Hong Fang, will you blame your daughter?" Ye Lingyue wanted to know if Ye Huangyu still had any affection for Hong Fang.

"After all the things he's done, no better than dogs or pigs, how could I have any affection left for him? To even plot against his own daughter, Hong Fang has long been devoid of conscience. I only regret that I cannot be the one to execute him personally." Ye Huangyu had fought her way through the Tiger Wolf Army just to increase her cultivation so that, one day, she could step fiercely on Hong Fang and the Hong Residence.

She wanted to let that pair of dogs, Hong Fang and his woman, know that her daughter, Ye Huangyu, is the true moon in the sky, not to be violated by anyone.

Seeing Ye Huangyu's indignant demeanor, the heavy stone in Ye Lingyue's heart finally came to rest.

"Aunt Ye, what you said is right, there are few frogs with two legs in the world, but there are plenty of men with two legs. For example, the Tiger Wolf General is a very good option." Lan Cai'er, hearing this, came over and jokingly said on the side.

"Sister, you're right this time. I think the Tiger Wolf General is a decent person and seems to care a lot about mother." As Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai'er joked together, Ye Huangyu felt both embarrassed and annoyed.

These past few days, acting as Nie Fengxing's attendant and out of necessity, she had almost always slept in the same tent with Nie Fengxing.

A few days earlier, she had insisted on sleeping on the ground, but when she woke up in the middle of the night, she found herself lying on Nie Fengxing's bed, and he was sitting by her side sleeping.

Remembering Nie Fengxing's large figure, yet with a child's sleeping face, Ye Huangyu's heart skipped a beat, and her face suspiciously flushed red.

This made it even more obvious that there was 'something hidden', and Ye Huangyu felt even more embarrassed, her face reddening like a piece of red cloth as Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai'er teased her.

"You two impertinent girls, daring to make jokes about your elder, I'll tear your mouths apart." Ye Huangyu pretended to be angry and pounced to hit Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai'er.

While the three women were causing a commotion, Nie Fengxing, who had already left, suddenly lifted the tent curtain and walked in, pausing as he saw the state of the three.

Especially seeing the normally cautious Ye Huang, with disheveled hair, panting, a delicate face flushed with red, Nie Fengxing felt a momentary shortness of breath and a tightness in his chest.

Ye Huangyu, realizing her loss of composure, awkwardly stood aside, while it was Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai'er who glanced at Ye Huangyu and then at the stone sculpture-like Nie Fengxing, could not help laughing out.

"Princess Ye, someone outside is looking for you," Nie Fengxing coughed a few times.

Who would come to find her in such a place?

Ye Lingyue was curious and left the tent.

"I'll also go out and have a look." Lan Cai'er also wisely stepped out.