The mountain path was treacherous, yet Chen Yishun wasn’t walking particularly slowly. He was somewhat amazed as he occasionally looked back at the Imperial Guard soldiers who silently followed behind him, carrying the charcoal merchant. He had originally thought these guards were merely posturing show-offs—capable enough of fighting and killing on level ground, but reduced to clumsy, exhausting travel once in these dense forests.

Three guards and one constable took turns carrying the charcoal merchant, while two other guards were deployed as flanking sentries. As darkness gradually fell and the autumn moon slowly rose, Meng Jianqing observed the cold mist beginning to permeate the mountain forest. Soon this mist would grow so thick that even the moon’s reflection would be invisible.

Perhaps he should have waited until tomorrow to ascend the mountain.

But that was exactly what the opposition hoped for, wasn’t it?

Finally, a patch of firelight appeared in the mountain valley ahead.

On a flat area in the valley’s center, one to two hundred people had already gathered around a bonfire. Cheng Wugeng and Lin Chongjiu stood at the front alongside three kiln masters, silently awaiting their arrival.

Meng Jianqing took his position facing them. The three kiln masters hurried over with their servants to offer tea and water, but no one paid them any attention.

The charcoal merchant was thrown to the ground. Meng Jianqing surveyed the silent crowd of charcoal burners. In the frost-cold moonlight, he could sense the frost-cold hostility lurking within the crowd.

There were probably quite a few desperate fugitives of all kinds hiding in these deep mountains and wilderness, driven to desperation by the Imperial Guard with nowhere else to go.

He signaled for one of his guards to step forward and loudly announce the charcoal merchant’s crimes.

Naturally, this account had been carefully crafted by Meng Jianqing: The two charcoal merchants had initially intended to destroy the Chen Lao Xianggong temple and harm court officials. When their plot failed, they falsely claimed that Chen Lao Xianggong was Chen Youding, and that the charcoal burners’ worship of Chen Youding constituted treasonous plotting. They hoped to incite a major case, deceiving the court into destroying all Chen Lao Xianggong temples in central Fujian and massacring all charcoal burners who worshipped Chen Lao Xianggong.

The guard was surnamed Lei, given name Zhong, originally a lay disciple of Shaolin. While his other martial skills were merely adequate, his mastery of the Lion’s Roar technique was truly perfected. When he opened his mouth, the entire valley resonated with buzzing vibrations, causing everyone’s expressions to change. When he reached the latter part of his speech, their faces grew even more alarmed—if such a conspiracy succeeded, wouldn’t the Fujian mountains run red with blood? Such a vicious person truly deserved death.

The charcoal merchant had originally thought Meng Jianqing was merely frightening him to make him reveal his puppet masters. Only now did he believe Meng Jianqing truly intended to throw him into the charcoal kiln. His face instantly turned as ugly as possible, lips trembling as he tried to say something, but Meng Jianqing happened to glance down at him at that moment. The cold, mocking gaze immediately silenced him.

What could he say? However, he confessed, death awaited. His puppet masters—was there even a need to ask?

Lei Zhong concluded by declaring loudly that any similar criminals in the future could be dealt with accordingly: jointly with local authorities, properly interrogated, then supervised by local officials during execution by throwing into charcoal kilns, with reports filed at the county office afterward.

This arrangement by Meng Jianqing appeared to respect the charcoal burners’ customs while transferring interrogation and execution supervision rights to local authorities.

The three kiln masters naturally had no grounds for objection. Cheng Wugeng and the other two looked at each other meaningfully.

The charcoal merchant suddenly began shouting: “Chen Lao Xianggong, Chen Lao Xianggong, you cannot stand by and watch me die!”

His shrill cries echoed through the valley. The guarding soldiers initially moved to stop him, but seeing Meng Jianqing’s expression, they halted.

The charcoal merchant’s cries grew even louder: “Chen Lao Xianggong, we brothers were carrying out your orders!”

Everyone assumed he was speaking deliriously under extreme pressure.

The roaring kiln fire was right before them. The charcoal merchant despairingly closed his eyes.

But from the darkness came a young woman’s voice, drifting leisurely: “Wait!”

Everyone was startled. Where could a young woman have come from in such a place?

The charcoal merchant who was about to be thrown into the kiln was set down again. The moment his body touched the icy ground, he couldn’t help but feel tears of gratitude, turning his head with tear-filled eyes to search for the source of that unexpected voice.

Meng Jianqing had already recognized the newcomer’s identity, though he hadn’t expected to be able to identify her. They weren’t particularly well-acquainted, and Meng Jianqing wasn’t particularly skilled at recognizing people by voice.

Disciples of the immortal sea mountains were indeed memorable.

Yun Yanjiao still wore fluttering white robes, gracefully descending from the eastern peak with moonlight enveloping her from behind, making her entire figure appear truly ethereal as an immortal.

Meng Jianqing couldn’t help but smile slightly.

Yun Yanjiao, seeming to step on moonbeams as she descended from the sky, had awed these charcoal burners who never saw women year-round, let alone such divine figures, simply through her manner of appearance.

If they also knew Yun Yanjiao’s identity, they would probably prostrate themselves completely.

Almost every family and clan in central Fujian had relatives drifting in the South Seas. Those who had received protection from the immortal sea mountains were by no means few.

As he expected, even a fierce and proud man like Lin Chongjiu immediately showed that expression of fortunate encounter and supreme honor upon hearing Meng Jianqing introduce Yun Yanjiao’s identity.

Yun Yanjiao looked toward Meng Jianqing, who made a “please proceed” gesture.

Though he didn’t know what mission had brought Yun Yanjiao to suddenly appear here, she had questions for the charcoal merchant.

The charcoal merchant looked at approaching Yun Yanjiao as if seeing his savior.

Yun Yanjiao said softly, “I have questions for you. If you can answer truthfully, I can plead with this Meng Xiaowei on your behalf to spare you excessive suffering.”

She understood this charcoal merchant could not escape death, regardless, but how he died was quite negotiable.

Meng Jianqing said from the side, “If Miss Yun has any requests, how dare Meng refuse?”

First, give the charcoal merchant some reassurance.

The corners of Yun Yanjiao’s mouth curved slightly, a smile subtly spreading.

Dealing with intelligent people was truly pleasant.

She stared intently at the charcoal merchant for a long time before asking: “What is your name?”

Despite this simple question, the charcoal merchant hesitated before answering: “You Youfu.”

His voice was extremely low, barely audible. Yet Meng Jianqing’s heart jumped. He hadn’t expected to net such a big fish. The Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity trio had been quite active these recent years.

However, this charcoal merchant’s courage was so poor that it made him doubt whether previous intelligence reports were accurate.

Yun Yanjiao’s gaze remained fixed unblinkingly on the charcoal merchant’s face: “Is that so? If you are You Youfu, then could you show Meng Xiaowei the three-star mole on your right sole?”

The charcoal merchant’s face immediately turned ashen.

Yun Yanjiao sighed softly: “I already gave you a chance.”

As she turned her head away, the charcoal merchant cried out desperately: “I’m not You Youfu! The person who was with me that night was the real one!”

Yun Yanjiao looked questioningly at Meng Jianqing, who quietly described the escaped man’s physical characteristics.

The charcoal merchant hastily added: “I never saw the mole on his sole, but he carried a precious sword one chi long with three rubies embedded in the scabbard—it truly could cut through iron like mud!”

Having said so much in one breath, he nearly suffocated from lack of air.

Both Meng Jianqing and Yun Yanjiao believed this time the charcoal merchant had indeed told the truth.

Yun Yanjiao turned around.

Meng Jianqing nodded slightly to two guards, who understood and stabbed the charcoal merchant to death before throwing him into the charcoal kiln.

When the charcoal merchant closed his eyes, his expression was one of immense relief.

He dared to face death but lacked the resolve to endure pain.

Perhaps most people were like this.

Several guards tactfully withdrew to one side, joining the crowd of charcoal burners in silently watching the roaring kiln fire.

Yun Yanjiao’s voice was low and gentle as a whisper: “We’re searching for Master Chen. The final clue leads to the Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity trio—they were the last people to see Chen Changgeng back then.”

The lucky ships built in central Fujian had always been renowned as unparalleled under heaven, with the Chen family of Quanzhou being the most outstanding. The Antai House, which was designed and preserved the blueprints, was known as “Master Chen.” During the dynastic wars and struggles for supremacy at the dynasty’s founding, the head of that generation of Master Chen, fearing that the ship designs accumulated over generations would be destroyed in the warfare, sent his youngest son Chen Changgeng to flee into the mountains with a copy—this was a method passed down through generations of Master Chen, used more than once to preserve these priceless treasures. Later, the original ship blueprints preserved by Master Chen were indeed destroyed in the war. Because the Chen family was implicated by Chen Youding, Chen Changgeng, who had fled with the copies, never dared return.

But now, things were different.

The revival of the Quanzhou Chen family was imminent. This news should have already spread throughout the deep mountains of central Fujian.

Why hadn’t Chen Changgeng appeared?

If Chen Changgeng had long since died, the ship blueprints might very well be in the hands of the Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity trio.

Meng Jianqing frowned slightly, then turned aside to pull out a copper whistle hanging around his neck from inside his collar and blew it toward the distant mountains.

The whistle’s sound was clear and resonant, rising straight to the clouds like a skylark’s call, though with slight metallic tones. In its rising and falling cadences, there seemed to be some kind of rhythm.

After a moment, the same whistle sound came faintly from the western mountains. The two whistles answered each other for a while. Meng Jianqing put away the copper whistle and said to Lin Butou and the others: “You will spend the night here, descend the mountain at sunrise tomorrow, and meet at Golden Rooster Fort at noon.”

Watching him and Yun Yanjiao depart quickly, Lin Butou began to understand that Meng Jianqing had more than just their group—there was at least one other team listening for orders in the shadows. No wonder Meng Jianqing hadn’t been too concerned about that person’s escape at the time. Had the man who escaped last night already been captured by this hidden team?

Looking back at the Imperial Guards, they had already spread out quickly, each choosing a position to monitor the crowd of charcoal burners from high ground. Before leaving, their leader Lei Zhong had even smiled as he told the three charcoal burner leaders Cheng Wugeng and the others: “You three must help watch your people carefully, lest they accidentally slip away and get killed by us by mistake, which would implicate you three in legal troubles.”

Obviously, before sunrise, no one could leave this valley.