She Holds the World After Being Reborn
Chapter 178: Strong Winds and Dark Clouds

Chapter 178: Chapter 178: Strong Winds and Dark Clouds

Inside the Imperial Palace.

Empress Zhang Lanyi sat by the window, a dagger in her hand.

Her slender fingers toyed with the dagger, startling the nursemaid beside her considerably.

"Dear heaven, why have you brought these things out again?" the nursemaid rushed forward.

Zhang Lanyi tossed the dagger into the air and caught it effortlessly, "It’s not sharpened."

Hearing that it was not sharpened, the nursemaid heaved a sigh of relief.

Zhang Lanyi curled her lips, "There are too many unsharpened things in this place..." Her lips parted again, her voice extremely faint.

The nursemaid hadn’t heard clearly and leaned in, "What did Empress just say? I didn’t catch that."

"I said, a dagger without an edge can still kill a person." As the words fell, Zhang Lanyi suddenly hooked the nursemaid’s neck, then fiercely stabbed her throat with the dagger, blood instantly splattering across her cheeks, some even landing on her slightly curled eyelashes.

Zhang Lanyi blinked, holding the struggling, life-seeking nursemaid tightly in her arms until she was breathless, then slowly loosened her grip.

The nursemaid collapsed to the ground with a thud.

The dagger fell from her neck, revealing a horribly gaping, bleeding wound.

"It’s been a long time since I’ve killed someone myself." Zhang Lanyi stood up, taking a long breath, "Phew— it’s truly exhausting."

The palace maid outside, hearing the noise, walked briskly in and saw this scene.

Blood was everywhere; the usually gentle Empress now stood covered in blood, her hands outstretched towards her, smiling like a soul reaper ascending from hell.

"Go, fetch water, I need to take another bath."

The palace maid collapsed to the floor, her voice whirling in her throat but unable to come out.

Seeing this.

Zhang Lanyi tilted her head, smiling at the palace maid, "You’re new here."

She carelessly wiped the blood in her palm on her robe, and called out loudly to the outside, "Lai Fu, come in."

The one called Lai Fu was a palace maid in her late thirties, having been with the Empress for a longer time, hence respected by the other palace maids as ’nursemaid.’

When Lai Fu came in, if Li Chengyuan had been there, she would have recognized her immediately as the nursemaid she had pleaded to add her name to the list in the past.

Lai Fu walked in and, seeing this scene, gasped. Then, she kicked the palace maid on the ground, "Get up."

Then she promptly kneeled down.

"In the future, for such house cleaning, the Empress only needs to command, why bother yourself?" Lai Fu spoke in a very calm tone.

Zhang Lanyi sighed, "Can’t help it, feeling too stuffy, it might rain heavily soon, my heart is restless, I intended to let this spy live a couple more days, but who expected the sudden rain."

She casually spoke of the weather, and then of human lives.

The palace maid’s face was as white as paper, like a befuddled sparrow, kneeling on the ground, small and humble, filled with fear of the outside world.

Lai Fu grabbed her waist and pinched, "Quickly go out and call for someone to change the water, Empress needs to bathe and change clothes."

The pinching awakened the palace maid who scrambled and rolled out of the doorway.

Zhang Lanyi tugged at the corner of her lips, "Such a pitiful sight."

"The Empress has been amused, the new recruits this year are not very well adjusted," Lai Fu slowly rose from the ground and spoke, "Empress, please proceed to the bathing pool, leave this place to your servant."

Zhang Lanyi stretched lazily, not lingering, very relaxed as she put this incident out of her mind.

She just couldn’t help herself.

This spy had been planted by a certain minister of the court, primarily to monitor every move of hers on behalf of a certain Prince.

The time she had spent by her side was about... well, three years now.

Zhang Lanyi clicked her tongue in pity. Normally the nursemaid spoke gently and pleasingly, but this time it was her own youthful inability to hold back that was to blame.

Since it had already been done, the adult involved might as well join them.

If you don’t eliminate the root, the wind of spring will bring it back to life.

At this moment, the sky outside the window turned yellow, the winds howled, dark clouds loomed, and a thunderstorm was imminent.

A flicker of unease crossed her mind.

She hoped it was just her misperception, praying fervently that nothing would happen to that little wolf cub.

Counting the days, she was about to reach the Western Region.

On a road at this moment.

Yan Wanqing rode ahead at breakneck speed, with Chang Qianhu following closely behind.

"Faster, the village is ahead. The storm is about to hit; let’s take shelter in the village!" commanded Chang Qianhu, relaying the order to the cavalry behind him.

Yan Wanqing was the first to enter the village.

She rode the horse further into the village.

The village was exceptionally quiet and sparsely populated, with many thatched houses tightly shuttered. Stray thatch and various pieces of fabric littered the sky, indicating the village’s lack of prosperity.

Yan Wanqing did not disturb the villagers directly and instead headed straight for a dilapidated temple.

"This seems to have been a Mountain God Temple before," remarked Chang Qianhu as he dismounted and looked around. He lit a candle with a Fire Starter to brighten the dim temple.

Yan Wanqing nodded approvingly, her gaze falling on the gathering cavalry at the back: "This is the only place with sufficient space. Everyone will have to make do tonight, and tomorrow we’ll head into town to recover properly." Behind the Mountain God Temple was a mountain riddled with numerous caves, big and small, seemingly hundreds in number.

She instructed Chang Qianhu to bring over a map and carefully studied the route on it.

"A hundred li worth of travel," sighed Chang Qianhu. "Whether rushed or not, we’ve still managed to make it here in a little over a month."

If this was the state of the cavalry, what about the infantry?

Yan Wanqing nodded, feeding her horse and then painstakingly brushing its mane.

She had ridden many horses to death along the way, but this one had persisted the longest.

She brushed intensely, her palm-sized face exhausted, yet her expression was extraordinarily focused.

Seeing this, Chang Qianhu’s admiration for Yan Wanqing deepened.

In the month’s duration, many cavalrymen had fallen, yet Commander Yan endured. She was like an everlasting pine, always at the forefront. Whenever anyone lost direction, they could see Commander Yan’s figure.

It was truly remarkable.

A true member of the Yan Family.

Chang Qianhu admired her deeply, clearing a space at the foot of the Mountain God statue: "Commander Yan, here."

"Block the door; this wind isn’t stopping anytime soon." After Yan Wanqing finished tending to her horse, she instructed others, then walked over to Chang Qianhu.

Only when she sat down did Yan Wanqing feel her entire spine tingle with numbness.

Exhausted, utterly exhausted.

Yet she could not show it before others.

"Commander, rest a while. I will prepare some food," said Chang Qianhu.

Watching Chang Qianhu leave, Yan Wanqing calculated that the Iron Cavalry now numbered less than two thousand. They had left five hundred with the infantry and another five hundred to protect Xiao Hongshen, and many were injured or sick along the way.

At this moment, the Iron Cavalry, now fewer than two thousand, were all in the caves of the mountain behind the Mountain God Temple.

Such a force was perilous against refugees on horseback.

Just then, a soldier approached, dragging a skinny figure: "Commander Yan, we’ve captured a sneaky spy!"

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