Jiuqing was heading back to where they’d been resting; after walking for not very long, Feng Jiu’er realized this.

One might think the path they’d walked since entering wasn’t very long, but in fact they’d been walking for over an hour.

Going back took a very, very long time as well. By the time they finally managed to walk out of the stone forest and at last saw the brothers again, the sky had already grown light.

“Jiu’er!” Seeing her, Qiaomu leapt up excitedly from the ground and dashed over.

Yanu had been waiting the whole time, not sleeping a single moment all night.

Only now, seeing Feng Jiu’er return safe and sound, did he finally let out a deep breath of relief.

“Jiu’er, how did it go? What did you two find? Where are the brothers?” Qiaomu asked.

Tuoba Keyan and Xuegu also came over, looking Feng Jiu’er up and down themselves. Only after finding nothing wrong did they finally relax.

They had been inside for over two full hours—from midnight all the way until now, with the sky already light, nearly three hours had passed.

If Jiu’er hadn’t come out soon, Xuegu would likely have been the first to go in after them.

“The brothers were likely taken away by bandits lying in wait nearby.”

Feng Jiu’er glanced back at Jiuqing—judging by his expression, he likely wasn’t going to volunteer any explanation to them. After all, Jiu’er already knew all of this.

With Jiu’er present, if he could avoid speaking, Jiuqing probably wasn’t willing to say an extra word.

Jiu’er could only continue, “We found the brothers’ footprints in the stone forest. When they went in, they were still together, but afterward, they gradually got separated.”

“Once they’d all become separated, other people’s footprints suddenly appeared and took them away.”

“But don’t worry—based on my guess, if they were only taken away rather than killed on the spot, then the brothers should still be relatively safe for now.”

If they’d meant to kill them, they certainly wouldn’t have bothered taking them away first. If it was only a matter of taking them away, then they definitely wouldn’t kill them after bringing them back.

As long as the brothers were still alive now and not lost in the stone forest, there was at least still hope.

Being taken by bandits at least left a chance of survival. But if they were lost directly in the stone forest, even staying alive would be difficult.

“Where are Mu Mu and Jian Yi?” Jiu’er glanced around. The two of them, who were supposed to be guarding all the brothers, were nowhere to be seen.

“They went in to look for you two.” Mu Mu and Jian Yi had been worried the whole time, and on top of that, both of them had decent internal strength, so they simply couldn’t sit still here.

Most importantly, the two of them had genuinely been inside for far too long.

“Mu Mu said he’d also studied a bit of esoteric arts—just the surface of it, but still better than knowing nothing at all.”

Qiaomu walked beside Feng Jiu’er, comforting her, “Don’t worry. They know the two of them mustn’t get separated. As long as they stay together, they’ll definitely be able to come back.”

“How long have they been gone?” Jiu’er asked.

There was nothing to be done about worrying now—they could only wait for the two of them to come out on their own.

If they sent more people in to search, then when Mu Mu and Jian Yi came back, the new searchers might end up trapped inside, unable to get out.

Going on like this would only fall into an endless dead loop—eventually everyone’s food would run out, and they’d all end up trapped to death here.

“They went in about half an hour ago.” Qiaomu glanced at the sky—now that it was light, she could finally make out the directions a little more clearly.

She said, “Don’t worry. The two of them have strong martial skills and are acting together. Even if those bandits wanted to make a move on them, it likely wouldn’t be easy.”

“Now that it’s light, they’ll be able to see the paths through the stone forest much more clearly. Getting out shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Now that it was daytime, visibility within the stone forest was clearly far better than at night. As everyone looked into its depths, it didn’t feel as distressing as it had the night before.

This also showed that once night fell, one truly couldn’t wander around the Black Valley—to travel, they would have to wait until daybreak.

Feng Jiu’er glanced up at the sky and nodded. “They’ll come back. I believe in them.”

“Eat something first—they’ve made fish congee.”

Yanu carried over a bowl of fish congee, walking up to Feng Jiu’er, saying gently, “You’ve been walking all night, you must be tired. Jiu’er, sit down first and drink some fish congee to rest a while.”

“Where did the water come from?”

“There’s a small river up ahead—Long Yi found it. We went over and got some water, put in some dried fish, and the congee we boiled turned out pretty decent.”

Yanu watched her sit down, handing the bamboo bowl into her hands, then added, “Drink some first. I’ll go get you some dry rations.”

“Okay.”

Yanu turned and walked off, while Jiu’er searched the crowd for Jiuqing’s figure.

Seeing him sit down quietly, holding a bowl of congee in his hands too, she found herself wanting badly to go over and wait on him in that moment—but in the end, she held herself back.

Ever since confirming he was the Ninth Imperial Uncle, seeing him now sitting on a rock, eating the same coarse food as everyone else, ached her heart.

The Ninth Imperial Uncle, so exalted and far above others—who would have thought that one day, for her sake, he would have to endure such hardship.

In his entire life, he had likely never experienced living as such an ordinary person, had he?

No one to wait on him, no fine delicacies, and even when sleeping, he was the same as everyone else—sky as his canopy, ground as his mat.

Although the Ninth Imperial Uncle had spent many years on military campaigns and wasn’t afraid of hardship, he was still the noble and esteemed Ninth Imperial Uncle!

Even during military campaigns, everyone had always taken excellent care of him. Who would want to see him suffer such indignity?

But she couldn’t go over to him now, because she couldn’t treat him as the Ninth Imperial Uncle here.

Here, he was only Jiuqing, a friend from the martial world that Mu Mu had brought along.

He didn’t need anyone’s special service, much less her special care.

Otherwise, others would easily guess that his identity was out of the ordinary.

Watching Jiuqing quietly drink a few mouthfuls of fish congee and gnaw on some dry rations, Jiu’er’s heart truly ached.

How she wished she could give the Ninth Imperial Uncle only the very best of everything, whether food, clothing, or anything else—how she wished he could have the absolute very best!

“What’s wrong? What are you thinking about?” Qiaomu sat down beside her, nudging her lightly in the side with her elbow.

“Why are you staring at Jiuqing the whole time? Don’t tell me you two did something unspeakable while you were in the stone forest?”

Something unspeakable, in the stone forest…

Jiu’er’s face flushed instantly as she recalled the scene of the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s audacious hands once exploring over her body.

Her face grew hot, and she hurriedly looked away, afraid Qiaomu would notice something was off.

But Qiaomu had already noticed something was wrong.

“You… you two… goodness! Don’t tell me you two are actually together now? Then… then what about the Ninth Prince?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Jiuqing is the one who saved my life, don’t make things up.”

Jiu’er coughed lightly, and her gaze inadvertently fell on Long Yi, sitting in the corner.

She didn’t know why, but the moment she saw Long Yi, something suddenly flickered through her mind.

Did Long Yi also understand these esoteric arts? Otherwise, how could he have so easily come out of the stone forest, and so easily found a water source, leading everyone to fetch water?

But if he understood it, why hadn’t he come out to help search for people?