Changle Arrives in Cold Mountain (Thanks to Cat Shadow Without Trace for the Alliance Leader Reward!)

Within the [Square Inch] space.

Li Shun's consciousness had now reached the very edge of the space, where the mysterious white mist shrouded the boundary.

Unlike its usually tranquil state, as still as a dead pool in a deep abyss, the white mist had recently seemed to conceal some colossal beast ceaselessly stirring within it, remaining in a state of violent churning at all times.

Previously, Li Shun had tried to force his consciousness into the white mist, only to slam into an invisible wall of bronze and iron. He had been left with a trembling soul, dizziness, and blurred vision.

But now, whether because his soul had grown tougher after weathering life-and-death calamities, or because the white mist itself had quietly undergone some kind of change,

Li Shun's consciousness was actually able to probe into it, forcing its way through like a needle finding a gap.

The moment he entered the white mist, he could no longer distinguish above from below or any direction at all. As far as his eyes could see, there was only boundless, hazy vastness.

Yet deep in Li Shun's heart, a trace of enlightenment inexplicably arose.

His divine sense was like a hand. Could this intangible white mist surrounding him... actually be pushed?

Once the thought arose, Li Shun immediately put it to the test.

The white mist looked light as a feather, ethereal and formless, but when he truly touched it, it seemed to weigh a thousand jun. Merely forcing it aside with great difficulty to open the tiniest crack left Li Shun's soul trembling violently, his head spinning and his vision swimming. Exhaustion instantly swept through his entire body.

Yet what filled him with incomparable delight was that the cracks he had forcibly carved open with his divine sense did not close back together like flowing water. Instead, they completely stabilized where they were.

Having glimpsed the first glimmer of hope, Li Shun's spirits soared. After allowing his soul a brief respite to recover, he once again threw himself into this arduous journey of opening new ground.

Again and again, stopping and resting along the way. After an entire day, Li Shun felt as though his vital essence, energy, and spirit had all been completely hollowed out.

But as he looked at the new Square Inch domain gradually forced open before him, an indescribably immense satisfaction surged through his heart.

At this rate, if I work a little harder, I'll be able to open up a new area in at most a dozen or so days.

By then, this Square Inch space will be able to accommodate another brand-new puppet. At the thought, Li Shun could not help feeling somewhat agitated.

With hope before him, Li Shun's drive grew even stronger.

In the days that followed, he immersed his divine sense in the [Square Inch] space almost every day, tirelessly opening new territory.

At the same time, Li Shun did not relax his observations of the situation in Cold Mountain County.

Ever since that hurried-looking Black-Armored Army had entered the county on the twentieth day of the second month, Cold Mountain County seemed to have returned to its former tranquility on the surface.

But Li Shun, who had already lived through a bout of bloody turmoil, could keenly sense the undercurrents surging beneath it.

For instance, the number of soldiers stationed at the city gates to inspect those entering and leaving had nearly doubled.

Along the long streets and within the dark alleys, large numbers of detectives and constables in plain clothes, their gazes sharp as hawks, had also appeared.

Watching these abnormal deployments from the sidelines, Li Shun faintly discerned something out of the ordinary.

Could it be that some great personage is coming to Cold Mountain County?

On the twenty-third day of the second month, Cheng Yishu, the county commandant of Cold Mountain County, finally returned with his men after escorting Feng Guan back to his homeland.

It was said that the journey had been calm and uneventful, and that Feng Guan had been safely delivered to his native land.

Upon hearing the news, Li Shun secretly let out a long breath of relief.

On the twenty-fourth day of the second month, amid a grand spectacle that shook the entire county, Li Shun finally learned exactly what kind of identity the "great personage" who had arrived in Cold Mountain County possessed.

She was a surviving descendant of the former royal family of the Xu Kingdom, and the current "Changle Marquis" of the Great Qian Dynasty.

A marquis was the highest rank among Great Qian's twenty grades of military merit, standing at the very pinnacle of the imperial court!

Though no one could understand why the incomparably honored Changle Marquis had deigned to descend upon the remote Cold Mountain County, that did not stop the county's people from erupting into an almost frenzied tide of spectators.

Li Shun naturally mingled among the crowd and joined in the excitement.

On both sides of the long street, a thick, transparent, earth-yellow formation barrier rose from the ground, forcibly separating the packed crowds from the broad main street.

Eight snow-white, extraordinary one-horned beasts pulled a broad carriage with no curtains on any side, carved from a single block of agarwood, as it rumbled down the long street.

Through layers of swaying gauze, one could vaguely make out a graceful figure reclining inside the carriage.

Perhaps cowed by that invisible air of nobility, the entire noisy long street instantly fell silent as a sparrow.

Every commoner held their breath, their eyes burning as they fixed upon the figure of Changle Marquis.

Yet Changle Marquis seemed unconcerned by the attention of the multitude. She actually extended her fair wrist and carelessly lifted the curtain.

The instant the curtain rose, it seemed that the colors of Heaven and Earth in everyone's eyes suddenly dimmed.

Within their field of vision, only that breathtakingly beautiful face capable of toppling all living beings remained.

Her skin was white as jade, exuding a chilly aloofness that kept others at a thousand-mile remove, yet it also possessed a heartrending, delicate vulnerability that made anyone who saw her feel pity. Her three thousand strands of black hair cascaded down like a waterfall of spilled ink. She wore no makeup, nor did pearls and jade ornaments fill her hair.

Only an utterly inconspicuous plain wooden hairpin held up her long hair at an angle. Examined closely, one could see faint, archaic sword-hilt patterns carved into it.

Changle Marquis reclined languidly halfway on the agarwood carriage couch. Her slowly shifting gaze, like autumn waters in a deep pool, swept across the crowd on the long street. Deep in her eyes seemed to hide a sorrow too obscure to describe.

The agarwood carriage passed all the way through the long street and only barely came to a stop outside the Cold Mountain County government office.

County Magistrate Fang Xun had long since led all the officials, great and small, of Cold Mountain County in waiting there.

"Your subordinate respectfully welcomes Changle Marquis!"

Fang Xun bent deeply at the waist, but when his gaze touched the luxurious carriage ahead, an uncontrollable flash of greedy fervor flickered deep within his lowered eyes.

With the careful support of two maidservants, Changle Marquis slowly stepped down from the carriage.

Her peerless beauty, coupled with her graceful figure as delicate as a willow swaying in the wind, caused everyone present who had come to welcome her to freeze in unison, their breathing catching.

Fang Xun, who had spent many years clawing his way through officialdom, was the first to recover. He hurriedly stepped aside and gave a grand bow. "Changle Marquis, please come inside!"

After welcoming her into the residence, they naturally treated her to an extravagant feast.

At the banquet, although graceful dancers twirled and danced in the center of the main hall, the eyes of those present still drifted toward Changle Marquis at the seat of honor from time to time.

"Your subordinate ventures to ask: why has Changle Marquis suddenly come here?" After three rounds of wine, Fang Xun raised his cup and made a probing inquiry.

"I passed through my former homeland and heard that a descendant of the former Xiang Kingdom royal family had been captured alive in Cold Mountain. On a sudden whim, I wanted to come take a look." Changle Marquis's eyelids lifted slightly, her voice cool as a spring.

Upon hearing this, a smug flush instantly appeared on Fang Xun's face. His heart stirred with excitement, and he immediately embellished the tale, describing the details of the pacification and capture that day to Changle Marquis in vivid, animated fashion.