Peerless ( Meng Xi Shi )

Qin Miaoyu was born in Goguryeo and grew up there, in fact, this wasn't her original name.

In Goguryeo, from the King himself to those of the wealthy, everyone was familiar with the culture of the Central Plains. She was adopted when she was little, and as someone who was born ambitious, it was transferred towards the desire to learn martial arts, including how to seduce men. At twelve, she was told that there would be a mission waiting for her, and it was to disguise as a local in the Central Plains, and wait until a new mission was given to her.

Since the Qin and Han Dynasty, Goguryeo has always been a powerful vassal of the Central Plains. In fact, they were even crowned by Emperors of many generations, and following that, Goguryeo's power grew, war spread out in the Central Plains, and the relationship between both countries grew more and more awkward. Goguryeo was no longer willing to obey the Emperor who ruled the Central Plains, and the awkwardness turned to distaste. Under this situation, Qin Miaoyu, along with Su Xing, became spies planted into the City of Six Crafts. She also knew that the Central Plains would plant spies in Goguryeo. People like them might never be noticed their entire lives, but they could also lose their lives at any moment.

The City of Six Crafts is a small city in the outskirts, but it was a much needed path to pass by from Khotan to Qiemo or other cities situated in the west. On its north was Göktürk, so it was an incredibly strategic place. Goguryeo chose that place because it was special, even more so than Luoyang and other wealthy and luxurious places.

On the fourth year since she came to the Central Plains, she had slowly got used to the life there. She lived with a family named Qin. The mistress of that family believed everything about her fake identity and treated her like a daughter of her own. This family also had a son whose age was incredibly close to Qin Miaoyu, and she called him her cousin brother. He was honest and upright, and he was very nice to Qin Miaoyu. The Qin mistress even wanted to marry both of them, but Qin Miaoyu had kept rejecting it. She knew that it was impossible for her to live like a normal person, to marry and give birth.

At last, the Khotan King's nephew, Yuchi Jinwu, came to the City of Six Crafts. Su Xing weaved a plan for Qin Miaoyu to marry Yuchi Jinwu, so that she could accompany him back into Khotan; because Su Xing thought that, with the influence of the Prime Minister at that moment, he could really take the throne and become Emperor. Once the new Dynasty is established, Yang Jian would propose an improvement, to avoid countries around them conflicting with each other. As a small kingdom in the west, Khotan is most likely to become an important chess piece for the new Dynasty.

Qin Miaoyu did not oppose to this. At that time, she was alone in the City of Six Crafts. No matter when it came to martial arts or identity, she was below Su Xing, so she could only obey his orders from the beginning to the end, creating a chance so that she 'coincidentally' met Yuchi Jinwu. The other was captivated immediately and wanted to take her as a concubine. Her family opposed to this strongly and thought that Yuchi Jinwu was not a very suitable man to wed. Her 'cousin brother' even chased Yuchi Jinwu away when he came to ask for her hand. However, Qin Miaoyu insisted that she wanted to marry him, so in the end they could only think that she was greedy and money-minded and wanted to rise up in the world, so they could only watch as she got married.

After that time, she never returned to the City of Six Crafts to see the Qin family that had treated her extremely well.

Yuchi Jinwu is the nephew of the King of Khotan, so he was essentially a member of royalty. Qin Miaoyu's life in Khotan was a hundred times better than when she was in the City of Six Crafts, she had enough to wear, eat, and plenty of treasuries. However, she would always think of the family that she had left behind in the City of Six Crafts.

Regardless, Qin Miaoyu knew that she could never go back. In secret, she had never put down her martial arts, even though her abilities were still very weak, in the Central Plains she was also considered an average practitioner, but this ability was her only connection to the pugilist world and her dignity, it was also her only way to free herself of any bindings.

Yuchi Jinwu already has a wife, and a few beautiful concubines, but because Qin Miaoyu was both beautiful and unrivalled in talents, she was extremely loved until Yuchi Jinwu was offered the chance to be an ambassador to bring tributes to the Central Plains. After a few words of convincing from Qin Miaoyu, he immediately agreed to bring her along with him, but he could never have thought that he would perish in this journey.

At that moment Su Xing slit Yuchi Jinwu's throat, fresh blood sprayed onto Qin Miaoyu's face. She couldn't stop herself from opening both her eyes wide, and squealed in a low voice, but she was stopped by a very impatient Su Xing, "Be silent! Do you want to attract attention?! Go take care of those two maidservants!"

As he spoke, he left Qin Miaoyu and went to take care of the other bodyguards that accompanied the ambassador.

Those were bodyguards of the Khotan King, even in Khotan, they were not men with poor skills, but in vast places like the Central Plains that brimmed with talented people, they were no match. Qin Miaoyu quickly discovered that all those years she used to practice her martial arts, in reality, was only enough to take out the more mundane people in the company. If she wanted to go against Su Xing, she could not even make it past ten moves.

As she realized this truth, she threw away the guilt she felt towards Yuchi Jinwu and a desire to own the Jade of Heaven's Lake grew in her.

Yuchi Jinwu loved and cherished her, so he took her a secret once: This time they brought not one Jade of Heaven's Lake from Khotan, but two of them.

Before anyone saw the real jade, they would trust the bogus jade to be the real one completely, but in reality the bogus jade was also a beautiful jade on its own, only that it was discovered not far from the real Jade of Heaven's Lake, but it was still a little incomparable to the real jade. The Khotan King gave these two jades to the Sui Emperor as proof of his sincerity in joining forces and becoming allies. Before the assassination took place, Yuchi Jinwu even told Qin Miaoyu where those two jades were placed.

Under the circumstances of knowing something like that when Su Xing did not, she blatantly kept him in the dark and gave him the fake jade, on the other hand, she took the real jade and hid it, then pretended to return to the city with Su Xing, after that she slipped out, retrieved the real jade, then went back into the city and hid anonymously.

Qin Miaoyu has never forgotten the legend of the Jade of Heaven's Lake, it could strengthen one's bones and enhance their martial abilities, and that had been too tempting for her. She couldn't withstand it and had to try it out herself. In the process, she discovered that during the full-moon, exposing the jade in the moonlight and using her palms to absorb its energy would make the jade yield some sort of respond. She could feel trickles of energy flowing into her. After a few times, Qin Miaoyu had fully discovered the secret of the jade and cherished it like an invaluable gem, using it to train herself for a few nights straight. When Qiao Xian and Zhangsun Bodhi found her through their lead, and the fact that an assassin from the Yunhai Thirteen Stories appeared wanting to take her life, Qin Miaoyu kept low on purpose, waited for Qiao Xian and Zhangsun Bodhi to force the assassin away, only did she take the chance to escape from them.

With her level of skill at that time, it was really shocking indeed. Had it been a few days before, she was only a third ranking martial artist, now that her inner strength had increased, it could be seen the effects of the jade was unsurpassed. If she had more time, she could really absorb the jade's powers completely and emerge as one of the top martial artists in the ranking boards.

But the amount of time left for Qin Miaoyu is not much. Although she escaped from Zhangsun and Qiao Xian, she was injured heavily, she had no choice but to hide in the city longer to treat her wounds. In the third place Su Xing had told Feng Xiao, she was there hiding. Other than Su Xing, no one knew to enter the manor from the backdoor. Qin Miaoyu wanted to take the risk of disguising as a widow leaving the city, blending into a company of merchants and leave together.

Qin Miaoyu had decided earlier, that if she succeeded escaping this time, the world is vast, she would not be a spy for Goguryeo any longer, and she would never again take orders from anyone. She wants to live proudly in the light, upright and dignified, she wants to be herself. Whether she was called Qin Miaoyu, or any other name, it was fine, but she would not live for anyone else other than herself. With the jade in her hands, even Su Xing would be unable to command her anymore. It was the other way around, she could convince Su Xing to free himself from everything as well, and leave the place with her together.

But her plans, at the moment she saw a man standing not far off from the backdoor, smiling as he stood under a tree, was ruined.

This was an incredibly handsome and beautiful man.

Qin Miaoyu considered herself to have seen many people, but this is the first time she had saw someone as handsome as this man that stood before her.

However, the feeling he gave her, was not the sort of fluttering heartbeat that teenagers have for men they admire, but it was one of fear.

That is an instinct from a practitioner of martial arts when faced before an incredibly strong enemy.

The Jade of Heaven's Lake amplified her strength, but also raised her sensitivity towards potential dangers.

The handsome man snickered a laugh, "Lady Qin, as I've heard from the rumours, the opportunity to meet today, proves that you are indeed a natural beauty, a flower among the world of men."

Qin Miaoyu was stunned, but also lets out a laugh, "Your name, my Lord?"

The man, "Although your name sounds beautiful, but my name sounds even more beautiful than yours."

This is the first time Qin Miaoyu met someone that spoke in such a way to her. The way the man looked at her held admiration, but it was not the sort of admiration that men used to look at beautiful women, it was simply as if she was just a nice looking flower in front of him.

"I am Feng Xiao." She heard the other said.

Qin Miaoyu felt her heart went cold. She did not feel that the name sounded beautiful, but it was the identity of the man that gave her a warning.

"I see, it's one of the Lords from the Jiejian Bureau." Qin Miaoyu was fully informed before the other would say it out loud, "I supposed you have already found Su Xing, and he had told everything to you? The jade is indeed in my hand, and I could give it back, I ask for nothing, I only beg my Lord for one thing."

Feng Xiao pushed himself up, displeased. "No one can qualify to bargain with me."

Qin Miaoyu laughed bitterly, "My Lord, you are mistaken, Miaoyu's life is in your hands now, how would I dare to speak of bargains? Miaoyu only wants to tell my Lord, that day in the outskirts, the lives of Yuchi Jinwu and his company were all murdered by Su Xing. I only killed those two maidservants, at that time, even if I refused to kill them, Su Xing would kill them, so if I hadn't take the Jade of Heaven's Lake, the jade would have already been delivered to Goguryeo by Su Xing by now."

Feng Xiao looked at her in the eyes for the first time.

He discovered that this woman is indeed intelligent. She did not beg for her life, and did not beg for her freedom, instead she repeated the events that happened that day, hoping to use reason to move him, to clear her misunderstanding.

Perhaps she long knew that Feng Xiao was not the sort to be seduced and tempted by beauty, and that he would not let her go easily, so she could only search for other ways.

Feng Xiao, "Why does Goguryeo want the jade?"

Qin Miaoyu did not hesitate to respond to him, she said without thinking. "I am not sure myself, but according to Su Xing, the King of Goguryeo is ill and could not be healed for some reason, perhaps this is related to it.

Feng Xiao was completely satisfied with her behaviour, compared to Su Xing, this woman was a lot smarter. She knew to cooperate with him, if she wasn't betrayed by her accomplice, perhaps she really could have escaped and leave the city, like a fish swimming back to the sea.

"The jade?" Feng Xiao asked.

Qin Miaoyu took the pouch hanging from her waist and took out a jade, carefully, she gave it to Feng Xiao.

The jade was only as large as one's palm, its curves were crystal clear, and it was jade-green. Under the sunlight it looked lively, like it was alive.

Before seeing this, Feng Xiao perhaps would have thought that the jade he auctioned from the Linlang Alliance's hall is the real jade, but after seeing this, it was impossible to believe that the bogus one was the real jade.

The one before his eyes, is truly the real Jade of Heaven's Lake.

Feng Xiao, "Why is it so small?"

Qin Miaoyu looked at him carefully and said, "I heard that it has a way to amplify one's strength, so I tried it."

She could've kept the truth, but Feng Xiao might have guessed, since her life is in his hands now, why shouldn't she just be honest?

Qin Miaoyu was unaware that her behaviour and intelligent was current being rated by Feng Xiao, she saw that Feng Xiao refused to accept the jade, as if she had put some poison onto it, she quickly said, "Lord Feng, Miaoyu is like a piece of meat waiting to be butchered, I dare not do anything shady at this moment."

Feng Xiao twitched his lips, but he took the jade from her in the end.

As the jade fell into his hands, he felt a chilled feeling penetrating his bones.

This is a very unbelievable feeling, as if his entire person was submerged in water, yet there was no feeling of discomfort. On the other hand, that chilled feeling filled all his limbs and even his heart, as if he was aided by god and knew everything in the world.

At that moment, all Feng Xiao thought that was not how magical and mysterious the jade was, but the fact that he needed to submit this jade to the Imperial Court anyways, whoever liked to touch the jade that was touched before by his hand—that had touched the seal that Cui Buqu touched that touched the green beans cake from a corpse—then they can touch as much as they pleased. There would never be another time he would hold this jade anyways.

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Qiemo: Referring to Qiemo City, it will now be called just Qiemo to make the story flow smooth.

Sui Emperor: In real history, Yang Jian was called Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty. Even Joan only knew this when she started reading about that period in history concerning Wushuang. xD In Chinese, Yang Jian was simply called 'Sui Emperor'. I will be keeping this method of addressing Yang Jian, the reigning Emperor of Sui Dynasty, to avoid too much change. This is just FYI for those interested in it and wants to research on their own.