“Madam, if you don’t wake up now, the people in this stronghold are going to kill your husband (me).”

Wu Qianlan heard this sentence through her grogginess, and feeling confused, she opened her eyes.

A plainly dressed young man appeared before her, looking at her with expectant eyes.

‘Stronghold? Kill? Husband?’

These three key words flashed rapidly through her mind, and with her keen intelligence, Wu Qianlan immediately sensed something was wrong.

When she looked to the side, she confirmed that the surroundings were no longer the inner palace.

The redwood house, although decent, was nowhere near the standard she was used to.

She now felt certain she had encountered something strange.

Because when she tried to rise just now, she clearly felt the heavy weight on her chest had shrunk to almost nothing.

And her body had become thin and frail—this was the body of a young woman.

Had she actually been reborn?

But what was this place?

It seemed she needed to figure out exactly what had happened.

“You, come here, I—”

But as soon as she opened her mouth, she instantly sensed something was off and stopped.

“‘I’ what?”

“It’s nothing, you should leave first.”

Wu Qianlan shook her head.

With the situation unclear, she couldn’t afford to reveal any flaws.

* * *

Although Ning Qingtian found this strange, fearing his wife’s fiery temper, he decided it was best to step out.

Still, since his wife had awakened, his life was probably safe.

He had no choice.

Who would have thought this world actually had something as mysterious as martial cultivation?

And as a transmigrator who had been here less than three years, Ning Qingtian had not received any golden finger.

All his modern knowledge was useless in a place full of illiterate people who didn’t even recognize basic characters.

If anything could count as a golden finger, it was his fair and handsome face.

With this face unmatched in all of Black Wind Stronghold, he had successfully remained the stronghold mistress’s husband for three consecutive years.

Fine, he admitted it—he had been kidnapped up the mountain by the chief of Black Wind Stronghold.

At first, he had worried about his chrysanthemum (virginity) quite a bit, but after learning that the stronghold chief was actually a sixteen-year-old girl, he relaxed.

In the end, after going through all three matchmakers and six formalities, Ning Qingtian was carried up the mountain in an eight-man bridal sedan.

Yes, you heard correctly—bandits also followed the full wedding rites.

So Ning Qingtian could proudly say: I was carried through the main gates of Black Wind Stronghold in an eight-man sedan as the official husband, and no one had the right to hit me.

Well, except for that sixteen-year-old monster who had already become a third-rank martial master.

Married life had been unexpectedly harmonious.

With a “since I’m here, I’ll settle here” attitude, Ning Qingtian cooked different dishes every day and watched the hot-tempered girl eat while complaining about what had happened that day.

From the government sending soldiers to suppress the bandits, leading to a few underlings dying, to trivial matters like underling Zhang San sleeping with Li Si’s wife and the two fighting again.

She could talk about such things for a long time.

In the blink of an eye, three years passed, and the couple’s relationship grew deeper.

Ning Qingtian felt this life was actually quite nice.

Who said transmigrators must stir up storms?

Wasn’t it great to just quietly stir up people like this?

“You pretty boy, how’s the chief?”

Just as he closed the door and turned around, a steel knife gleaming with cold light was pressed directly against Ning Qingtian’s neck.

Ning Qingtian didn’t need to look to know it was the second-in-command, Wang Shuye.

This guy had always been hostile toward him, thinking he wasn’t worthy of Yan Bailu.

Looking around, he saw the area filled with bandits, all staring at him intensely, waiting for his answer.

Ning Qingtian wasn’t surprised.

After all, the chief’s life or death was extremely important to these bandits.

But before he could answer, the door behind him was pushed open again, and a frail-looking woman stepped out.

“What are you all doing? Planning a rebellion?”

Her cold, sharp voice echoed, and all the bandits knelt in terror, shouting that they did not dare.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Ning Qingtian felt that today his wife’s anger was far more intimidating than usual.

The invisible authority she exuded was like that of a true empress.

“Chief, are you alright?”

Wang Shuye was overjoyed.

After all, Black Wind Stronghold’s ability to survive depended heavily on Yan Bailu, a third-rank martial master.

“I’m fine now. Release my husband.”

Wu Qianlan imitated the tone of this body’s original owner, careful not to reveal any flaws.

Here, it seemed only that the fair-faced man was easy to manage, and since he had said they were husband and wife, she absolutely could not expose herself.

“Hmph, count yourself lucky.”

Wang Shuye, knowing the chief’s temper, snorted and withdrew his blade.

Ning Qingtian remained calm.

After his wife awakened, he knew he would be fine.

“Alright, go do whatever you should be doing.”

Wu Qianlan ordered again, dismissing the bandits.

After they had all left and no one remained nearby,

Ning Qingtian couldn’t hold back anymore.

He stepped forward and hugged his wife tightly, speaking worriedly, “Madam, please don’t try breaking through to the second rank by yourself without saying a word ever again. Do you know how worried your husband was after you fainted last night?”

Wu Qianlan instinctively wanted to push him away, but his words instantly froze her.

Breaking through to second rank…

So that was it.

She finally understood the situation.

In the Song Kingdom, mainstream cultivation was divided into the literary path and the martial path.

The literary path was weak early but strong later, and relatively safe and stable.

Its later stages possessed immense power, so the Song government strongly supported it.

The martial path was the opposite.

After one or two years of training, results appeared quickly, but most died along the way because martial cultivation required constant battle and tempering.

Thus, most martial practitioners were ordinary soldiers, and on the battlefield, few lived long.

As the saying went: Learn the arts of pen and sword, and serve the emperor’s household.

Throughout the Song Kingdom, martial masters of third rank or above were extremely rare.

So hearing that someone here was attempting to break through to second rank—how could she not be shocked?

According to her knowledge, the most crucial step in breaking through from third rank to second rank was the state of roaming beyond the heavens.

If she guessed correctly, this girl named Yan Bailu had swapped souls with her during that process.

Of course, everything still needed verification.

* * *

Just as Wu Qianlan was forming this conclusion, a thousand li away in the imperial capital Bianjing, inside the palace, a sharp female voice suddenly rang out,

“Where is this? Where is my Black Wind Stronghold?”