"Xiao Mo?"

Behind the open door, a man who looked to be in his forties spoke. When he saw Mo Yi's face clearly, the tense expression on his face relaxed.

"Of course it's me, Mr. Xia."

Mo Yi glanced at the man's hand slowly lowering from the hilt of a knife at his waist, furrowing his brows. "Mr. Xia, what are you doing..."

"Come in."

The man raised his hand to cut off Mo Yi's question, summoning other servants and coachmen from the post house to drive the carriage into the post house through the back door, while leading the way into the main gate personally.

As Tiran passed by a few of the servants, he raised an eyebrow. The movements of these servants seemed subtly stiff and tense, as if they were on high alert, quickly leading the horses and carriage around the outer wall.

"I say, what's going on? Why does it feel like both the boss and the servants are so nervous?"

Passing by the lotus pond in the courtyard of the post house, Tiran leaned in to quietly ask Mo Yi, "Is everything alright?"

"There's no need to worry about that, Mr. Xia... oh, his name is Xia Yu, he used to be under Princess Ling, retired due to injury. I've met him many times when I traveled with Princess Ling to the fortresses and academies in the past, he is absolutely trustworthy."

Mo Yi said in a comforting tone, then changed the subject, "It's rare to see Mr. Xia so nervous, something might have happened at the post house... but please rest assured, I will handle it."

Injury...

It was only then that Tiran noticed Xia Yu, who was leading the way, walking with a slight limp, his left leg appearing particularly unnatural.

Xia Yu led everyone to the main hall of the post house's first floor. Although the post house usually accommodated some passing guests, there seemed to be no other guests in the post house to welcome the princess's convoy, making the spacious first floor hall appear somewhat empty.

"Now, can you explain what's going on here, Mr. Xia?"

Turning around to close the hall's door, Mo Yi stared at Xia Yu inquiringly.

"Of course."

Xia Yu unclasped the buckle on his scabbard from his belt, grasped the scabbard and raised the sword to his chest, his other hand pulling out a portion of the sword from the scabbard. "We found tracks of grassland people around us."

"Impossible."

Mo Yi's immediate reaction was this. Yes, absolutely impossible, this was the empire's heartland, although geographically remote, even if there were mountain bandits to attack, there couldn't possibly be grassland people.

In the northwest, the Tianshan Mountains served as a natural barrier, reinforced by the Yanmen Pass fortress and the River East Army stationed there. Mo Yi had absolute confidence in his princess's abilities.

"It's normal for you not to believe." Xia Yu shook his head. "I am General Ling's former subordinate, I have no less faith in her than you do, but the fact remains. You... follow me."

Xia Yu turned and headed towards a small door at the back of the hall, after a brief hesitation, Mo Yi quickly caught up, following him down the stairs behind the small door to a place reminiscent of a cellar.

"Look." The light in the cellar was somewhat dim, half of Xia Yu's face was obscured in the darkness where the light didn't reach, giving him a somewhat shadowed appearance.

"What is this...?!"

Mo Yi didn't quite like the cold air in the cellar, but when he saw the outline on the ground, his breath stopped for a moment, he couldn't care less about his surroundings.

If Xia Yu wasn't playing a prank on him out of boredom, that covered-up silhouette... should it be a person?

"The body of one of the post house's servants."

Xia Yu lifted the cloth, revealing the body underneath. Indeed, it was dressed similar to the servant they had just seen in the shop, the fatal wounds were two arrow wounds on the back.

"Alas, is this person dead?"

Following Moe, Tiran arrived at the cellar below and let out a soft gasp of surprise from behind. Her immediate reaction was to give Mimi a signal with her eyes.

Mimi nodded and promptly turned around, leading Chirp, who hadn't come down yet, outside.

It wouldn't be good for the child to see... Although Chirp wasn't an ordinary child, still calling herself and Aya "mom and dad," it was a subconscious instinct to keep her away from not-so-nice things.

As for the rest of the people, they had all come down to the cellar, looking mostly indifferent. Senior Sister Zhilan's sword skill Zhenming was exceptional. Not only did she see the body pierced by arrows, even dismembered limbs lying around were no different to her than a nearby lamp or table. Shuma and the mercenary leader had seen their fair share of dead bodies due to their previous professions, so they had become accustomed and indifferent to such sights.

Ironically, it was Moe and Tiran who were less willing to stare directly at the corpse.

"Really... Do I have a protagonist halo on me? I seem to run into troubles wherever I go..."

Tiran muttered to herself.

"I and several others saw mounted riders in the forest nearby. Their attire indeed resembles that of the grassland people, and the archery skills that could shoot a companion checking the wall from such a distance can hardly be matched by anyone else."

Xia Yu frowned as he gripped his knife, "Xiao Mo, I'm more familiar with the Tian Shan Mountains. While Yanmen Pass is indeed strategically important, guarding the most crucial passage, it's possible for a small group of grassland people to secretly climb the ridges from both sides."

"Grassland people sneaking in because of the war..."

Moe nodded. Xia Yu's analysis made sense, and now that they knew the reason, they just needed to find a solution. In reality, this was not a significant threat to them. Even if it was a small group of grassland cavalry, Moe himself was confident in dealing with them. Moreover, apart from Chirp, who seemed to lack combat ability, everyone else in their group was no weaker than himself.

"Don't worry, Mr. Xia," Moe said, "since we're here, there won't be any issues. I remember there are regular patrols from the nearby city that come here every morning, right?"

"That's correct. Knowing that it's General Ling's renovated postal station, the nearby garrisons pay special attention to this place."

"That makes it simple. We'll stay here until the patrol arrives tomorrow morning, and then we can rely on them to protect the station. A scattered group of grassland skirmishers poses no threat to regular garrisons."

"That sounds like a plan." Xia Yu also agreed. Although he didn't know Tiran and the others, he was aware of Zhilan and Moe's relationship with General Ling and their cultivation as immortals.

However, as they relaxed, there was also a sense of regret. "Hey, back in the day, I've cut off quite a few grassland people's heads. It's a pity I'm getting old now and can't handle a sword anymore."

"Nonsense, Mr. Xia, your sword skills are still as sharp as ever." Moe chuckled, saluting him.

...

Setting aside the grassland people's attack, if they didn't plan to disturb the WuXi Postal Station, they were fine. However, if they did, Tiran and her group were confident they could handle it.

Since there were no worries about their rear, they decided to do something to relieve the exhaustion of sitting in the carriage all day.

"There really is a hot spring!"

Tiran, wrapped in a towel, crossed the garden and lawn to the back of the main building, where, past the intricately carved veranda, three differently shaped hot spring pools were gently steaming.

Xia Yu, who has been catering to the princess all year round, arranged meals and accommodations meticulously after not having to worry about the affairs of the grassland people. Now Tiran intends to soak in the hot spring before going to bed.

"Your Highness, it is said that the hot springs in East Land contain abundant energy, beneficial for the skin, can remove dead skin to make the skin radiant and firm..." As attendants and guards followed Tiran to the edge of the hot spring pool, Shuma, wrapped in a towel just like Tiran, squatted by the pool with smooth rounded pebbles on the edge, reached out to test the water temperature, and meanwhile introduced it to Tiran.

"Tiran, are you actually acting as a tour guide now? What's with this exaggerated commercial description?"

The princess helplessly waved her hand, finding it a bit amusing. "Besides, I'm quite confident in my skin, I don't need such effects, I mainly just want to enjoy it."

"...It's also said to have a breast-enhancing effect."

The princess fell silent.

The princess untied the towel and entered the pool.

The princess started pouring water frantically onto Oupai.

*Cough cough.*

"Your Highness! Your Highness! Please make sure to wait for me before soaking in the hot spring!"

A voice full of regret came from the direction of the garden where a maid had just arrived. Mimi, who had accompanied Chirp in catching fireflies after leaving the dungeon, was particularly fond of these glowing little creatures, refusing to leave. As a result, the maid missed the chance to soak in the hot spring with Tiran.

"Chirp, how about we go soak in the hot spring, and we can catch fireflies later..."

Chirp resolutely shook his head in refusal, and Mimi was close to tears.

As the saying goes, "The Eastern Sea has what I desire, but I also want the bear's paw; both can't be had," but the problem is that both options in front of me are bear's paws! Now I can only hope that Your Highness will spend more time soaking.

On the other side of the male guest hot spring pool, the leader of the mercenaries, Beinrich, sat in the hot spring pool. His burly body was half exposed above the water, and droplets gathered on his bronze skin and large, solid muscles, making Moriyi on the opposite side unable to stop staring.

"Hey, kid, can you stop staring at me?"

Feeling a bit irritated by being stared at, Beinrich's mouth twitched. Damn, they had swum together on Fareast Star before, and now he was following him into the hot spring. Is this guy a gay?!

"Um, sorry."

Moriyi quickly explained, being suspected of his sexual orientation, "I just admire your muscles and skin color."

"What the hell did you just say??? You're definitely a gay man! Get the hell away from me!"

Even the battle-hardened leader of the mercenaries felt uncomfortable hearing these words, swearing to himself, Beinrich, that even when facing those brutal monsters, he had never had this kind of goosebumps all over his body feeling.

"I'm not! I don't have any ulterior motives!"

Moriyi was anxious, "I just want to learn how to train to have muscles like yours!"

"To train muscles?" The leader of the mercenaries raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's like this..." Moriyi looked a bit embarrassed, but fortunately, there were no girls around, so he became a bit bolder, "Princess Xiangling is stationed at the border all year round, and whether it's character or aesthetics, she appreciates men with masculine qualities..."

"So you want to train to be like me to flirt with the princess? Kid, you've got some ideas!"

The mercenary leader's mouth widened to his ears. Indeed, Moriyi belonged to the elegant and handsome type, with a significant difference from Beinrich, the pure macho man.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't purposely training for this," Beinrich chuckled, "I've been fighting alongside mercenaries since I was fourteen, battling monsters all the way until now. These muscles of mine are just a side effect."