His Highness the Madman gave in again today.

Before Mo Sangyu could speak, the horse suddenly snorted uneasily and pawed at the ground, as if it had sensed something.

Lu Jin's hand rested on the hilt of his sword, Yu Chengwei's face was tense, and four imperial guards surrounded the cart, making the atmosphere tense.

There's no reason to go back.

Mo Sangyu withdrew her gaze: "Go through."

Lu Jin responded, spurred his horse forward, and led the group onward.

The carriage rolled over the ashes, raising black dust.

The flock of crows finally moved, flapping their wings and taking flight, their dark mass obscuring half the sky, creating a scene that was both eerie and spectacular.

Mo Sangyu sat in the carriage with the curtains drawn, constantly observing the outside.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, they still hadn't escaped the scorched earth.

It's too quiet.

It was unusually quiet.

There was no wind, no chirping of insects, and even the sound of horses' hooves seemed to have been sucked away by something, muffled and not carrying far.

Mo Sangyu's soul probed forward.

At the end of the scorched earth, there was a black forest.

The tree trunk was bare, without a single leaf, and its branches twisted and stretched towards the sky like countless withered hands.

Mo Sangyu's expression suddenly paused slightly.

There seemed to be something hidden ahead; that thing had no heartbeat, no breath, and didn't even seem to have a body temperature.

Not a living thing?

But they were moving, silently approaching this way.

"General Lu."

Lu Jin rode closer: "What's wrong, Your Highness?"

"Make sure people stay close and don't fall behind. No matter what you hear or see, don't stop."

"Yes."

Lu Jin didn't ask any further questions and turned to give the orders.

What kind of weird places are these?

Yu Chengwei sat on horseback, nervously looking around.

This trip was absolutely thrilling!

The carriage continued on its way.

Finally, as they approached the woods, several blurry outlines appeared in the darkness ahead.

They stood in the middle of the road, motionless.

As the carriage drew closer, its outline became increasingly clear.

It is humanoid.

They look no different from normal people, except that their complexion and exposed skin are somewhat bluish-gray.

There are people ahead.

Yu Chengwei had decent eyesight; although he saw them, he couldn't see through them.

"What are they trying to do, block the road?"

"Kill them if they block our way!"

Lu Jin pressed his hand on the hilt of his sword, poised to charge forward at Mo Sangyu's command.

"However, why can't I sense their presence?"

He turned to look at Mo Sangyu, his gaze questioning.

Even he couldn't detect any aura, so the opponent's martial arts skills must be superior to his own.

This would be troublesome.

"General Lu."

The carriage stopped, and Mo Sangyu stared at the people with a sharp gaze, while her red lips slowly curved into a heart-stopping smile.

That feeling was even more dangerous than the person opposite me.

"Remember to protect the ice coffin later."

"Does Your Highness mean that these people are after the ice coffin?"

"Hmm, they seem rather unusual, I'm afraid..."

Yu Chengwei was already sweating profusely with tension. Hearing Mo Sangyu pause slightly before uttering the last four words: "Not a living person."

His heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally died.

If it's not a living person, then what the hell is it?

Help.

He wants to go home.

Yu Chengwei cried out in his heart, but remained calm on the surface.

General Lu should protect him, he's alright!

Mo Sangyu waved his hand, and the carriage continued forward. However, the closer it got, the more uneasy the horses became.

From a hundred paces away, it neighed and pawed at its front hooves, its mane standing on end, refusing to take another step forward.

Mo Sangyu lifted the carriage curtain, her spiritual energy flowing silently as she looked over with a cold gaze.

There were nine figures in total.

The closer you get, the clearer you can see.

These people stood motionless, their limbs stiff, exuding a deathly chill.

dead body?

No, it should be zombies.

Lu Jin drew his sword, its blade pointing straight ahead, about to make a move, when Mo Sangyu's cold voice rang out: "Their bodies are stiff, they must be impervious to swords and spears."

Lu Jin paused, his brows furrowing. "Your Majesty, is this truly the case?"

"You'll know once you try it."

Before the words were even finished, the zombie on the other side moved first.

Without any warning, the movements were stiff yet swift, completely unlike the actions of a living person, and the target was extremely precise.

Nine figures instantly formed a battle formation.

Five of them rushed straight toward the cart carrying the ice coffin, ignoring the imperial guards standing around them.

The remaining four rushed straight towards the carriage where Mo Sangyu was.

As for Lu Jin, Yu Chengwei, and even the four Imperial Guards, they didn't even glance at them, completely ignoring them as if they didn't exist.

The Imperial Guards drew their swords to protect the ice coffin. The swords struck the walking corpses with a series of thuds, as if they were hitting iron plates.

The zombie remained completely still, not even its skin was broken.

The Imperial Guards were dumbfounded; they had never seen anything like this before.

The walkers reached out and grabbed the ice coffin. The five of them pulled together, dragging the cart wheels and leaving deep grooves in the ground.

Lu Jin flew over and thrust his sword at one of them. His true energy was too strong, and the tip of the sword was immediately broken in two.

The zombie felt no pain; it simply raised its hand mechanically and shoved Lu Jin aside with astonishing force, treating him as an obstacle.

A look of shock flashed across Lu Jin's face. He was momentarily stunned and was pushed back several steps by the zombie before he could regain his balance.

After pushing Lu Jin away, the walking corpse didn't look at him again and continued dragging the ice coffin.

Five Imperial Guards hacked at them frantically, trying to stop them.

The other four surrounded Mo Sangyu.

Mo Sangyu raised her hand, her spiritual energy condensing into an ice blade, and slashed at the nearest walking corpse.

The ice blade sliced ​​across its neck, leaving no mark, as if it had struck a rock.

The ice blade shattered on the ground, turning into specks of eerie blue light that dissipated into the air.

The zombie stretched out a hand and reached for her.

Mo Sangyu dodged to the side, his hand grabbing the carriage wall, wood chips flying everywhere, a piece of the carriage wall being torn off.

Mo Sangyu glanced at the hole, then refrained from attacking. She leaped up, stepped onto the shoulder of a zombie, and used the momentum to propel herself several meters away.

Upon seeing this, Yu Chengwei immediately reined in his horse and dodged to the side, his heart pounding in his chest.

These things completely ignored everyone else, focusing only on the ice coffin and the empress.

He should stay away and not cause them any trouble.

The four zombies chased after Mo Sangyu, faster than she had imagined.

Mo Sangyu moved erratically across the scorched earth, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes forward, sometimes backward, like a cat toying with its prey.

The zombies chased after her, grabbing, kicking, and headbutting her. Each time they missed, they crashed to the ground, creating a deep crater.

Scorched earth flew everywhere, and rubble collapsed in all directions.

Mo Sangyu casually played with them while carefully observing them, looking for flaws.

She discovered that these zombies were far more advanced than puppets.

They have no sense of pain, are not afraid of swords or spiritual power, have no soul or consciousness, and only follow commands.

Let alone ordinary swords and knives, even if there were firearms, bullets, or explosives attacking it at this moment, it might not be able to completely destroy it.

Their instructions couldn't be clearer.

They snatched Shen Hanzhou from the ice coffin and took her life as well, while the others were not part of their mission.

If they are walking corpses, then there must be someone controlling them behind the scenes.

However, these walking corpses did not have any talismans, magical artifacts, or spells on them.

So how exactly are they manipulated?

They are almost flawless.

However, Mo Sangyu still caught a glimpse of something unusual.

She stood on a bare tree branch, coldly watching the four zombies below, who then lunged at her again.

Mo Sangyu had a vague guess and planned to verify it.

She flipped her wrist, and her spiritual power transformed into countless dark blue threads, which wrapped around the nearest walking corpse, binding his hands and feet tightly.

Even though the zombie possessed immense strength and struggled frantically, it could not break free from her spiritual energy threads.

With a slight lift of her wrist, Mo Sangyu pulled the walking corpse into the air, suspending it in front of her.

She leaned slightly forward, placed one hand on the zombie's stiff head, and drew her palm close to its skull, sucking in its contents.

In an instant, a crystal-clear blue nail was slowly sucked out from the top of the zombie's head.

The long nails gleamed with a cold, eerie light, exuding a chilling aura.

The moment it detached from the zombie's body, the long nail instantly melted into a puddle of water, dripping onto the scorched earth and evaporating in an instant.

The ferocious walking corpse immediately went limp and fell straight down from mid-air, crashing heavily to the ground without making a sound.

Ice Symbol.

That's really true.

Mo Sangyu lowered her eyes to look at the corpse on the ground, and a dangerous yet playful smile slowly curled her red lips.

Surprisingly, I ran into a colleague.

Things seem to be getting more and more interesting.

Without further delay, she moved swiftly, and in a short while, she had extracted all the ice runes from the skulls of the remaining three zombies in the same way.

The four zombies collapsed to the ground one after another, completely unresponsive.

On the other side, beside the cart carrying the ice coffin, the battle was in a very messy state.

Lu Jin and five imperial guards fought desperately to stop them, repeatedly slashing with their long swords until the blades were chipped, but they couldn't even scratch them.

Instead, they kicked them away or threw them out again and again.

This left them covered in dust and bruises, and they had to limp back to continue trying to stop it.

As long as you don't die from the fall, just drop you as hard as you can.

Of course, Lu Jin is much better than them; at least he can dodge.

Fortunately, the instructions these zombies received were rigid, which allowed them to survive.

Mo Sangyu flew over, and just as she was about to make a move, she saw a figure flash in front of her, and then she crashed into that person's arms.

"Ayu."

Feng Xingyu saw this scene as soon as he arrived, but with the soul contract in place, he knew that Mo Sangyu would not be injured, so he was not too worried.

"What's going on?"

"We encountered zombies; they had ice runes implanted in their skulls. Once they were removed, everything was fine."

"I'll do it."

He landed with Mo Sangyu in his arms, then flashed over, grabbed a zombie by the neck, placed his palm close to its head, and used his supernatural power to suck it out.

The crystal-clear nail was sucked out.

Upon seeing this, Lu Jin immediately did as instructed.

However, he had a hard time trapping the zombies, and it took him quite a while to manage to trap one.

Feng Xingyu quickly managed to handle all four of them.

The ice coffin swayed precariously on the cart, three of its wheels missing, the remaining one deeply embedded in the ground.

The horse had long since disappeared.

Mo Sangyu's carriage also had a large hole destroyed.

When Yu Chengwei saw Feng Xingyu appear, he thought he was hallucinating from fright.

The five imperial guards also thought they had damaged their brains.

How could His Majesty suddenly appear when we are so far away from Da Chen?

Lu Jin remained the most composed, stepping forward to bow and say, "Your Majesty."

Feng Xingyu simply nodded to him and walked towards Mo Sangyu.

"Ayu."

He took her hand, glanced around, and frowned slightly. "It's so late. Why don't I take you somewhere else to rest for the night?"

"There are so many people and so much stuff; you can't take it all with you."

Mo Sangyu's eyes flickered, and she already had an idea in mind.

"General Lu, you should go and find the horse first."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Lu Jin left with the Imperial Guards, and Yu Chengwei quickly followed.

Mo Sangyu waved his hand casually.

A new horse-drawn carriage appeared, as did a flatbed cart next to it.

That way, we won't be delayed on our journey.

We can find a place to rest after we get out of here.

In the darkness, a trace of melancholy flashed in Feng Xingyu's red eyes.

In front of Ayu, he was still the same as always... with no opportunity to use his skills.

"What are you standing there for?"

Seeing him standing there motionless for a long time, Mo Sangyu went over and lightly punched him in the chest: "Aren't you going to help move these things?"

"Um."

Feng Xingyu responded and hurriedly went to the wrecked carriage to move all the things to the new carriage.

Then the ice coffin was moved onto the new cart.

The couple boarded the carriage.

A faint, warm fragrance wafted through the carriage, dispelling the chill of the scorched earth and deathly silence that surrounded it.

Sitting on the soft couch, Feng Xingyu took out the food he had brought for Mo Sangyu that evening.

Wrapped in thick oil paper, layer by layer, a warm aroma immediately wafted out.

Glutinous rice and jujube cake, steamed yam segments with milky aroma, tender shredded chicken with a good braising flavor, and steamed chestnuts with osmanthus sugar.

They were all freshly baked and still steaming hot.

Mo Sangyu hadn't eaten all day and hadn't felt hungry before, but seeing these colorful and delicious dishes immediately whetted her appetite.

"It smells so good."

She was about to pick up her chopsticks to eat when she remembered something and stopped.

"You didn't wash your hands, they're filthy."

Feng Xingyu chuckled lightly: "Just wait."

After saying that, he disappeared and returned in a short while with a basin of water.

"Come wash your hands."

Mo Sangyu looked at him.

Actually, she could conjure the basin herself, but this man probably didn't want her to expend any more spiritual energy, so he preferred to make the trip himself.

At that moment, for some reason, she felt inexplicably moved.

Feng Xingyu is really good to her.

It was so good that she often took it for granted.

They felt that everything he did was his duty and that he did it willingly.

"Ayu."

Seeing her staring blankly at him, Feng Xingyu's thin lips curled slightly: "Why are you looking at me like that? Go wash your hands, I'll help you."

As he spoke, he took her hand, placed it in the water, and carefully washed it clean for her.

The water was still hot.

It feels incredibly comfortable when you put your hand in.

"Feng Xingyu, why are you so good to me?"

"Is this what you call being good to you?"

After Feng Xingyu washed her hands and dried them with a handkerchief, he looked down at her and gently stroked the tip of her nose: "Compared to you, I'm still far behind."

A sentence suddenly came to Mo Sangyu's mind.

A person who doesn't love you is afraid you'll ask for too much, while a person who loves you is afraid they won't give you enough.

Feng Xingyu was the man who was always afraid of not giving her enough.

Mo Sangyu sat directly in his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him on the lips.

The sudden kiss stunned Feng Xingyu.

"What...are you doing?"

"I want to kiss you."

"Why did you suddenly kiss me?"

Do you need a reason to kiss me?