At nightfall, Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu had a hasty meal at Panlong Stronghold before heading back to the city.

By the time they left, Long Qi had already brought several hundred brothers into the stronghold.

In the dead of night, the city gates were sealed off inside and out, and thirty thousand soldiers streamed out through the gates in batches.

Before dawn, the soldiers had completely left Yue City and entered Panlong Stronghold in full.

At the same time, at the east gate of Pingyuan City, Mao Zhongcai suffered defeat after defeat and was forced to retreat westward.

Di Wu Ya and the others rescued a large number of women from Yongshan City, and after each had their identity verified, they were sent back to Yongshan City.

Mao Zhongcai had clearly made preparations, and after retreating to the west side of the mountain range, he changed his strategy.

With the enemy’s numbers overwhelming, Di Wu Ya’s advance stalled, and he set up camp with his troops on the eastern side of that stretch of mountains.

Just as Di Wu Ya’s side was at a loss for what to do, word arrived that Feng Jiu’er’s army had caught Mao Zhongcai off guard.

The battle, which had quieted down for two or three days, flared up again.

Di Wu Ya led his troops and quickly broke through the defensive line Mao Zhongcai had prepared.

As the two forces pushed Mao Zhongcai westward, they also drew closer and closer to each other.

Over at Yongshan City, the Dragon Shadow Pharmacy branches were being set up one by one, and Xiao Yingtao had received the herbs sent over from Yue City.

Half a month later, thirty thousand of Lei Shenbao’s former guards, led by Yang Sheng, swiftly entered Pingyuan City and headed for the war zone.

The remaining nearly forty thousand of Lei Shenbao’s guards were all promptly given the antidote.

They had lived under Lei Shenbao’s coercion, some for as long as twenty years, some for only one or two — after taking the antidote, they were finally truly freed.

Over the course of more than a month, Mao Zhongcai was pushed back to the one remaining town on the west side of Pingyuan City.

This last remaining town, called Fenggang Town, occupied less than a tenth of Pingyuan City, yet it was a very important location.

To its west it bordered Song River, home to the largest harbor along the Hei Tan region; to its east, it shared a single gate with Liuchuan City — practically a shared gate between the two cities.

Fenggang Town was the largest and most prosperous town in Pingyuan City.

Outside the town, in a not-so-wealthy village, the army received news from the front line and halted its advance.

Before everything could settle, a brother rushed into the courtyard of a relatively large thatched cottage.

“Miss Jiu’er, something’s wrong!”

In the courtyard, only Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu were standing.

Feng Jiu’er turned to look at the brother, frowning. “What’s happened?”

“Miss Jiu’er, a brother’s been poisoned — he drank from the well.” The brother explained with clasped hands.

“Pass the word — no one is to touch any water inside or outside the village for now,” Feng Jiu’er said, striding forward as she spoke.

“Lord Xing already knows and has gone to make arrangements. He asked me to bring you over to see the poisoned brother.” The brother hurried after her.

No one had expected that they would run into trouble the moment they stopped to rest.

Sixty thousand soldiers had entered the village; the houses could not possibly hold them all, so the rest camped nearby.

Feng Jiu’er, on receiving word that the well water was poisoned, immediately had brothers spread out to stop the soldiers from drinking the village water.

With so many people, the news hadn’t spread in time, and a few hundred brothers were still poisoned.

Fortunately, Xiao Yingtao’s Tianji Hall had followed the army all the way with a sufficient supply of antidote, sparing the brothers from losing their lives over it.

But even after taking the antidote, the poisoned brothers’ bodies were affected to some degree or another.

Feng Jiu’er had the poisoned brothers gathered together, and together with Xiao Yingtao, Leng Xuepiao, and others, went to examine them.

Elsewhere, Feng Jiu’er sent Zhao Yusheng and Xing Zizhou to survey the water source nearby.

The situation over in Fenggang Town was quite unusual, and with no concrete news yet, it wasn’t a good time to start the battle.

The campaign had already dragged on for over a month, and the soldiers were exhausted.

So, they were likely to stay in this village for quite some time going forward — and if the water problem wasn’t solved, it would become a serious issue.

Before noon, the first batch of soldiers had entered the village; by the time the poisoned soldiers were settled, night had already fallen.

During this time, Di Wu Ya and Feng Jiang had hardly left their quarters at all.

There was still a great deal to handle regarding the coming offensive.

Not until Feng Jiu’er, Qiao Mu, Xiao Yingtao, and the others arrived did the two tables outside the thatched hut finally have steaming meals set upon them.

Yu Jingfeng invited Di Wu Ya and Feng Jiang out of the house, and everyone split into two tables to eat together.

During the meal, no one spoke — after all, they were truly hungry.

After the evening meal, everyone moved indoors.

The room, which originally had had nothing in it, now had both chairs and tables.

The two tables weren’t very large; they were for Di Wu Ya and Feng Jiang to work at.

Everyone else had their own chair to sit on, and a dining table was placed in the middle, with a pot of tea on it.

Xiao Yingtao was brewing tea, and Xing Zizhou went over to help pour it for everyone.

“Your Highness, the news has been confirmed.” Yu Jingfeng broke the somewhat excessive silence.

Di Wu Ya took the teacup Feng Jiu’er handed him and glanced up at Yu Jingfeng.

Yu Jingfeng clasped his hands toward him and said, “We’ve gotten reliable word — right now Fenggang Town has not only Mao Zhongcai’s men, but five other different factions as well.”

“Five factions?” Qiao Mu frowned.

Xiao Yingtao, holding her tea, froze as well.

“Five factions… how did this come about?”

Had the words not come from Yu Jingfeng himself, Xiao Yingtao truly would have doubted it.

“Correct!” Yu Jingfeng looked over everyone. “It’s five.”

“One faction is local — Fenggang Town’s town chief, Mao Linye.”

“Mao Linye is Mao Zhongcai’s elder half-brother; he’s said to deal both above and below board.”

Feng Jiu’er was well aware of what it meant to deal both above and below board — she just hadn’t expected these words to come from Yu Jingfeng’s mouth.

Did they, too, have such a saying?

“Mao Linye is the town chief, but also mixes with the underworld — what faction is that?” Feng Jiu’er asked.

“Reporting to Miss Jiu’er.” Yu Jingfeng’s gaze came to rest on Feng Jiu’er.

“Fenggang Town has a fairly large organization called Yehua Hall — the ‘Ye’ is the same character as in Mao Linye’s name.”

“Yehua Hall is the largest civilian organization in Pingyuan City, and it has a reputation throughout the entire Hei Tan region.”

“What does Yehua Hall live off of?” Qiao Mu asked, also looking at Yu Jingfeng standing in the middle.

“Openly, it’s an escort agency. Covertly, how many other means of livelihood it has, we don’t have clear word on yet.” Yu Jingfeng replied.

“Some say Yehua Hall is an assassin organization; others say Yehua Hall trades in illicit drugs.”

“There’s also a claim that Yehua Hall has monopolized the brothel trade across all of Pingyuan City, even Liuchuan City.”

“What is this illicit drug?” Feng Jiu’er asked, frowning.

Only now did she realize just how little she truly understood about the Feng Clan.

—