“Sovereign, someone’s there.” The accompanying protector, Zhang Shaoyou, whispered to Shen Tang, “The Demon Realm is full of demonic creatures. This desolate wilderness, with snow falling, and a lone girl standing there… it feels a bit eerie. She’s most likely not a friendly sort.”

This was Shen Tang’s first time personally transporting goods out of the Demon Realm, partly for the experience. Yet, after traveling for so long, they hadn’t encountered any dangers.

Now, a delicate young girl, standing alone in the wilderness amidst the falling snow, created a scene that made everyone from the Tianxing Jianzong feel as if their first crisis had arrived. They were all tense and solemn, their sword qi unconsciously emanating.

Shen Tang stared at the distant figure, feeling a primal sense of strangeness.

To call her a demonic creature, there was indeed a hint of that; she gave off a very dangerous vibe, not like a benevolent being. Moreover, what normal young girl wouldn’t panic or hide upon seeing so many swordsmen approaching?

But she didn’t seem to be looking at the goods or the procession. It felt as if she was only staring at Shen Tang’s face in a daze, which was odd.

The convoy cautiously approached. The girl remained motionless. Shen Tang could now clearly see her face. At first glance, she looked somewhat familiar, but Shen Tang was sure she had never met this “flat-chested” girl.

As they drew closer, Zhang Shaoyou had already gripped his sword hilt, cautiously watching ahead.

The girl suddenly spoke: “Are you a business caravan from Daqian?”

As soon as she spoke, all the Tianxing Jianzong members reacted by drawing their weapons.

The girl paused, then suddenly laughed, a self-deprecating smile.

Her mind was in a daze, myriad thoughts rushing in. She hadn’t considered that in their eyes, she was clearly not a benevolent being.

Shen Tang waved her hand, stopping her disciples’ aggressive reaction, and calmly said, “The Tianxing Jianzong caravan is here. May I ask who you are?”

“My family and I were going to Yaodu, but we got separated. I don’t know the way alone and I’m scared.” Yuan Muyu blinked her eyes. “Can you take me with you, Miss?”

As the casual lie left her lips, she again felt a sense of daze.

Yes, separated from her family.

Zhang Shaoyou whispered, “Sovereign, this person is strange, absolutely not…”

Shen Tang waved her hand. “It’s indeed inconvenient to travel alone. If we can help, we should.”

Zhang Shaoyou: “?”

No, are you serious?

Yuan Muyu smiled and trotted over to Shen Tang. “Miss, you’re really a good person. What’s your name?”

“Clang!” A bunch of longswords beside them were drawn again.

Shen Tang tilted her head and looked at Yuan Muyu for a while, then smiled, “My name is Shen Tang.”

Logically, no matter what she thought, she would naturally ask in return, “And you?”

But Shen Tang didn’t ask.

Yuan Muyu, this time, found it a bit strange. Shen Tang shouldn’t have met her, nor should she have seen Ye Tinglan’s true face without her veil. What was with this attitude? Could she really recognize who she was?

Shen Tang didn’t say much, only telling her disciples, “Sheathe your swords; no need to be so nervous. Continue forward. The Wolf Clan City is about a hundred li ahead. Let’s try to reach the city tonight for lodging.”

The disciples didn’t understand what their Sovereign was doing. They sheathed their swords in confusion and continued escorting the carts, constantly glancing at Yuan Muyu’s face, trying to figure it out.

To say the girl was beautiful was true, but her face was pale and her steps unsteady, as if she had been injured. The Sovereign herself was a peerless beauty, and this pale-faced girl was surprisingly her match. Walking side by side with the Sovereign, they were like two competing flowers, one like a blooming begonia, the other like a secluded orchid in a valley, incredibly pleasing to the eye.

Could it be that the Sovereign was the hunter, planning to do something to this injured, isolated girl?

So this is the kind of Sovereign you are!

Yuan Muyu feigned curiosity and asked, “You’re delivering goods. Why don’t you just put them in rings and fly there? Pulling a caravan like this delays time and increases risk.”

Shen Tang smiled. “Storage rings are vacuum environments, not suitable for everything, especially active things… We have many herbs here that need to be kept alive, so it’s not very suitable. Of course, appropriate items are already in the rings; otherwise, there wouldn’t be just these few carts.”

Zhang Shaoyou: “…”

This Sovereign has gone mad, even revealing that she has other valuable items in her rings.

Yuan Muyu also found this attitude very baffling, and could only perfunctorily reply, “I see. I’ve learned something new.”

Shen Tang didn’t say much. In reality, while telling others not to be nervous, she herself was the most anxious, her Huangji Jingshi Jing operating at full capacity, ready to face any enemy at any moment.

The reason for letting the other party travel with them was, of course, that by keeping her under their direct watch, with everyone’s full attention, it was much better than being secretly trailed.

From this perspective, the strange girl they met was standing there openly waiting, which didn’t seem like she was targeting the goods. Who would target goods by exposing themselves so abnormally? It seemed more like she was targeting Shen Tang herself…

Shen Tang’s mind had been racing, trying to figure out who it could be. Her main suspicion was that the Dragon Emperor had sent someone to test her, given that they were in the Demon Realm.

But after a couple of sentences, she felt something was off. The girl seemed distracted, her tone perfunctory, clearly preoccupied, not like someone sent to do a job.

This was strange. Who exactly was this? What did she want?

Seeing that the other party didn’t seem to have much to say to her, Shen Tang initiated the conversation: “Miss, your family got separated. Were they going to Yaodu?”

“Hmm, something like that.”

“Then, when you reach Yaodu, will you be able to find them?”

“I’m not sure.” Yuan Muyu seemed lost in thought. “Maybe I’ll never find them again.”

Shen Tang said, “Miss, don’t be discouraged. When we go to Yaodu, we will most likely meet the Demon Emperor. We can ask her to help you find them.”

Yuan Muyu suddenly felt like laughing.

They were not on the same page. Shen Tang didn’t know what her implied lost family referred to. She deliberately asked, “The Demon Emperor is high and mighty. Will she even bother with Sovereign Shen?”

“There should still be some things we can discuss.”

“And Sovereign Shen would be willing to use such a favor for a stranger you’ve just met?”

Shen Tang wouldn’t give a damn; she was just racking her brains to probe her background, so she said, “Family is always the most important.”

Yuan Muyu turned to look at her. “Sovereign Shen believes family is the most important?”

Shen Tang replied, “Naturally.”

“What about a lover?”

Shen Tang smiled. “I’m engaged to him. He is my family, my most important family.”

“Before you were engaged? Was he not as important as your other family members then?”

Shen Tang tilted her head.

Are you trying to argue with me?

She had a vague idea of the person’s intent, so she said, “I have no other family members left. From the moment I fell in love with him, he became my only family.”

Yuan Muyu smiled. “Do swordsmen also lie? I heard Sovereign Shen still has family alive.”

Shen Tang replied indifferently, “They haven’t been for a long time.”

“What if you were given a huge family fortune? Could Sovereign Shen still say those words so decisively?”

“I have my own family business, created hand in hand with my lover. I don’t need anything else.”

Yuan Muyu was suddenly stunned, momentarily ceasing her arguments.

Shen Tang frowned, looking at her profile. This person most likely knew her identity. Could it be that her Imperial Father sent her to test her?

It didn’t matter.

If she said no, then it was no. Anyway, her Imperial Father didn’t want her to succeed him, so he probably wouldn’t say anything if he heard this.

Then Yuan Muyu suddenly spoke again: “The foundation you created together, you are the Sovereign, and he is…? Your Vice-Sovereign?”

Shen Tang shook her head. “He has no official position. He used to be a guest elder, but that’s been removed now.”

Yuan Muyu abruptly turned her head, a sharp glint in her eyes. “Why removed?”

Shen Tang was asked inexplicably, “Because I’m going to marry him! Why keep him as a guest elder? What kind of sense does it make for my husband to be a ‘guest’?”

Yuan Muyu was about to ask if the Tianxing Jianzong would then have nothing to do with him, but before she could, she heard Shen Tang continue: “Before, I re-established the Tianxing Jianzong after it had fallen to rock bottom, mainly so that my master’s efforts wouldn’t perish. Now, the sect is even more prosperous than before; I’ve done what I needed to do, and Master should be smiling. After this, what I develop and manage the Tianxing Jianzong for, I hadn’t been very clear, but now I am.”

Yuan Muyu swallowed her unasked question and replaced it with, “What is it now?”

Shen Tang said, “My husband has started his own business, and the Tianxing Jianzong is one of his aids. The stronger the Tianxing Jianzong, the more I can help him.”

Yuan Muyu opened her mouth, suddenly speechless.

She wanted to say something, but no sound would come out.

Shen Tang looked at her profile strangely, finding her more and more familiar the longer she looked.

Connecting it to her strange topics, Shen Tang’s mind spun countless times, trying to recall a similar appearance from her memory. Gradually, a mature face with a veil emerged.

Does the upper half of this girl’s face look a bit like the Imperial Advisor?

If it weren’t for these topics, she wouldn’t have thought of it. But with these topics, it seemed the truth was almost within reach…

Could it be that Ye Zhuoyu, whom Lu Xingzhou sought to marry in the imperial court, wasn’t referring to the Imperial Advisor, but to this girl? Then her showing up seemed quite normal. Was she upset that Xingzhou’s first marriage proposal was to herself?

Shen Tang’s thoughts were very close to the truth, though the final answer was a bit off. After all, she didn’t know a crucial piece of information—Yan Jun Yuan Muyu was the younger sister of Imperial Advisor Ye Tinglan.

Missing such a crucial detail, yet still being able to draw this conclusion, was already quite remarkable…

The sun gradually set in the west.

Peaks appeared vaguely on both sides.

A small path ran through the mountains, and ahead lay the territory of the Wolf Clan.

But the wind howled, heavy snow blocked the mountains, and faint wolf howls emerged from the mountains, giving it an ominous feel.

Zhang Shaoyou hadn’t been listening to the two women’s quiet conversation, but now he finally couldn’t help but lean in and whisper, “Sovereign, this place is not safe, and we have someone with unknown intentions by our side. Your subordinate suggests we don’t enter the mountains. We should set up camp outside for the night and cross the mountain into the city tomorrow.”

These were indeed cautious and mature words. Shen Tang nodded slightly. “Alright, an extra night’s delay is worth it.”

Zhang Shaoyou breathed a sigh of relief. The Sovereign finally wasn’t completely brain-dead and was willing to listen to advice.

The Tianxing Jianzong members immediately took out what they needed for setting up camp from their storage rings. Just as they were about to erect the camp, the sky suddenly darkened, and a fierce wind arose.

Countless glowing green wolf eyes appeared in the mountains, and a sinister cackle echoed repeatedly: “Since you’ve come, why hesitate now?”

Shen Tang pulled Yuan Muyu behind her and whispered, “You’re injured. Don’t act rashly. Leave it to us.”

Yuan Muyu clutched her chest, slowly recovering from the suffocating sensation, and looked at Shen Tang’s back with a strange expression.

No, you’re protecting me?

You were clearly wary of me before. Why, after I challenged and questioned you a few times, are you now caring for and protecting me? Who exactly is the one who’s gone mad, me or you?