Huzi’s panicked footsteps echoed on the dirt road outside the village, extremely clear to hear in the dawn.

After running just a few steps, white shadows flashed before his eyes, and a group of white-clothed people blocked his path.

Huzi raised his face in alarm. Although he had been instructed by Jing Hengbo and knew someone would intercept him, seeing such a group of ghastly pale people still startled him.

His terror thus appeared so genuine that the group of white-clothed people immediately asked, “What’s happening? Why are you running around in such panic?”

“Ah… they can fly… immortals!” Huzi stared wide-eyed, saying frantically, “There are ghosts in the village! There’s a ghost in the bridal chamber…”

One of the white-clothed people snorted coldly, “The bridal chamber? What did you hear?”

His hand pressed on his sword hilt, his eyes revealing naked killing intent.

“I went to secretly eavesdrop, and I heard someone inside saying… interesting… let them come play too…” Huzi said tremblingly, “I saw a white shadow and was scared to death. I was so frightened I didn’t dare stay in my room. My house is right next to the bridal chamber…”

The white-clothed person’s hand released the sword hilt, and he asked with a strange expression, “You really heard him say, let them come play too?”

“Yes…” Huzi nodded repeatedly.

The white-clothed people looked at each other and laughed heartily.

“How is Namur so generous today?”

“Generous what? It’s just his leftovers.”

“Still better than blowing in the wind looking for people outside. We brothers should also loosen our muscles and bones.”

“Speaking of which, we haven’t tasted women yet. To enter the outer sect and become formal disciples, who knows when that will be.”

“Shall we go take a look?”

“Hey!”

The group was in good spirits and paid no attention to Huzi. Their figures flashed repeatedly as they headed straight for the village.

Huzi got up and watched their retreating figures, then turned his head and spat in disgust.

“Bah!”

…

Jing Hengbo was at the window, pulling a thin thread—extremely fine, invisible even up close.

Mister Mu sat on the bed, playing with Jing Hengbo’s dagger. The dagger was snow-bright, reflecting light in the darkness.

Those rays of light flickered and pulsed in his hands.

White shadows swept over from a distance at high speed.

Jing Hengbo turned her head to look at the thin thread. She didn’t quite understand Mister Mu’s intention in having her pull this thread. This group of people, being considerate of their leader inside, wouldn’t possibly rush in recklessly.

Without speed, this thin thread was useless.

She didn’t see that the flickering reflection from the dagger had an unusual rhythm.

But those outside saw it. The one running in front said joyfully, “Hey, three bright and one dark—safe! Namur is really generous this time, signaling us to hurry over!” He laughed heartily and greeted those behind him, “Sorry, I’m going first!”

He increased his speed, bowed his waist and hunched his back, and shot through the narrow window with a whoosh.

Jing Hengbo witnessed an extremely bizarre scene.

She saw a person come in and instantly split into two pieces—the upper and lower halves separated by half a foot, each flying out in parabolic motion for half a zhang.

Blood mist billowed and spread, and before her eyes fell a misty red rain.

The bloodied quilt came in handy again, catching those two halves, wrapping them up, and rolling into the corner.

The room was peaceful and quiet. The thin thread didn’t even have time to be stained with blood.

Killing with such exquisite precision made one’s whole body turn cold.

Jing Hengbo’s gaze burned bright. She felt she still had much to learn. First of all, she didn’t understand how the silent Mister Mu had made the opponent charge over like a suicide squad.

But she could be certain this method only worked once. After one person charged in, the second wouldn’t charge again.

“How to kill the second one?” she asked Mister Mu with lip movements.

He looked at her with a smile and made a “your turn” gesture.

Jing Hengbo rolled her eyes—oh ho, what did this mean? Were they competing now?

If they were competing, then compete.

She first went to the bed to rest for a while, taking positions with Mister Mu on either side. The faint fragrance from his sleeves masked the thick smell of blood.

Outside, there was suddenly the sound of knocking on the window, with someone impatiently asking, “Are you done yet?”

Jing Hengbo got up and went to the corner, shouldering the blood-soaked quilt. The quilt wrapped those two halves of a person, with one half sticking out, looking quite intact—the upper body had no blood stains either.

Doing this kind of thing actually required courage. Thinking about what was really in the quilt made her hands go weak. But she suddenly understood that in Daimo, in the Great Wilderness, such scenes might be frequent in the future. If she couldn’t overcome her psychological barriers, she could never truly become a decisive, killing king.

In dark times, weakness was not tolerated.

Behind her, his gaze was warm and firm. She suddenly wasn’t afraid anymore.

Lifting the rolled quilt, adjusting the position of that person’s hand, she crouched under the window and slowly raised the person up.

Half of that person’s body protruded from the window, his hand slightly beckoning—a “come here” gesture.

Someone outside was laughing, saying, “Ha, together? That works too!”

Someone rushed over. The window was narrow—once blocked by one person, no one else could enter. He impatiently pushed the person blocking the window aside, “Why are you still blocking? Move aside.”

That person fell in response. The newcomer was startled, feeling something was wrong.

He looked down and saw that under the fallen person’s ribs, a flash of snow-bright light suddenly emerged, stabbing into his own ribs.

Entering from under the ribs, slanting upward, piercing the heart.

“Hiss.” An extremely soft sound.

So close, blocked by a human body, with no escape.

His body stiffened and he leaned against the window, motionless.

Jing Hengbo took advantage of the situation to drag him through the window. His posture wasn’t very good, and he hit the ground with a thud.

Someone outside laughed, “Look how eager this guy is—he can’t even climb through a window properly!”

Jing Hengbo listened to the voices and breathing outside, her eyes gleaming—there weren’t many people left.

She began to crouch down and strip these people’s clothes. Nine Heavenly Gates disciples, even low-level disciples, should have some decent things on them, right?

There were indeed many things—books, pills, various strange items. She didn’t have time to study them one by one and collected them first.

The third person was killed by Mister Mu. He simulated the sounds of three people arguing and fighting in the room. A Nine Heavenly Gates disciple rushed in eagerly to mediate the fight and got himself killed instead.

But difficulty arose afterward. Three people had entered consecutively without much sound, and there was even an argument, which seemed somewhat strange. The remaining few people hesitated and refused to enter, even beginning to retreat.

They hadn’t retreated two steps when the sound of something falling came from behind them. They turned around and saw soup and water all over the ground. An old woman stared at them blankly and shrieked, “Someone come! Thieves! Thieves! Thieves have broken into my son’s bridal chamber!”

By this time, day was almost breaking. Some people in the village had already gotten up to work the fields. The other villagers naturally paid attention to the household that had held a wedding last night. At a glance, they saw several white-clothed people surrounding the bridal chamber and immediately gathered around alertly.

Pitchforks and hoes were raised, also flashing with cold light.

Jing Hengbo took the opportunity to throw out a blood-soaked quilt and shouted at the top of her voice, “Thieves and robbers! Help! Help!”

The villagers immediately erupted in anger. Seeing the quilt soaked in blood, they were both shocked and furious. A large group rushed toward those white-clothed people. The white-clothed people looked down on these martial arts-ignorant rural folk and sneered, about to push aside the pitchforks and hoes before them and go on a killing spree, when they suddenly realized something was wrong.

Those originally slow-moving hoes suddenly reached their faces.

Those pitchforks that shouldn’t have been able to reach them suddenly tripped their steps.

Those wildly waving kitchen knives and rolling pins suddenly blocked the paths they needed to take.

And their own swords seemed to be moved by strange forces, always being deflected to one side just when about to kill someone, wounding their own companions instead.

Cries of pain were endless, but they came from their own and their companions’ mouths. This made these few people begin to panic. What panicked them more was that while they were being besieged by the common folk here, not one of those people in the room, including Namur, had come out.

Looking at their own side again, they were shocked to realize—there had been so many people, where had they all gone?

They couldn’t carve out a bloody path, but instead had their clothes caught by pitchforks, their toes hit by hoes, and their backs pounded by rolling pins. In their panic, they wanted to use deadly force, but their killing moves were submerged by waves of people.

When one person was knocked down by them, more people surged forward. When the first kitchen knife chopped into their backs, more wounds bloomed on their snow-white clothing.

Even ants can bite an elephant to death.

Jing Hengbo, watching the battle from the window, looked at those few heads surrounded by crowds outside the window, struggling as if in an angry sea, and slightly curled her lips.

No need to watch further—the outcome was already decided.

The moment she turned around, dawn light shot in from outside the window, gilding her face and silhouette in deep gold and pale red.

Inside the room, he also looked up. Their gazes met, each lit up by the other’s brilliant radiance.

…

After surviving the night’s turbulent ordeal.

What followed was easy to handle. They found Huzi waiting outside the village, gave him silver, told him where Er Ya was hiding, and reminded him to remember to leave the knocked-out fool at the village entrance.

As for those corpses, the villagers would know how to deal with them themselves. Country folk had their own wisdom.

When day broke, Jing Hengbo and Mister Mu returned to Wang Jin’s team. At that time, Wang Jin had just finished driving off a batch of assassins.

Wang Jin didn’t even ask where they had been. With assassins running rampant last night, everyone was fighting and hiding separately—no one could look after anyone else.

Jing Hengbo was extremely tired. Once the crisis passed, she fell asleep again. When she woke up, she was lying peacefully in a carriage and had even been changed into her usual hunter’s daughter clothes.

Her body still felt uncomfortable and cold, but it was much better than when the attack first began last night. Later, her battles with those white-clothed people had hardly required much effort, and without being invaded by more cold qi, the various energies in her body could slowly adjust themselves, preventing a serious illness.

However, thinking of the trouble caused by getting drunk last night made her head hurt even more.

Damn it, in her previous modern life, her alcohol tolerance had been quite good. She could casually drink a case of beer and half a jin of liquor without falling. Who knew that in the Great Wilderness, she was getting worse each time.

They say people with worries get drunk easily. It seemed she’d have to quit drinking in the future.

She felt her clothes and raised her eyebrows—who had changed her clothes?

Without asking, she knew who had changed them. She wanted to settle accounts with someone, but that person was sleeping across from her. When she leaned over to look, Mister Mu was actually sleeping very soundly, seeming quite exhausted.

She gazed at his sleeping face with a complex expression. After a long while, she gently turned her head away.

The sounds outside were noisy. She got off the carriage. Many of Wang Jin’s group were injured, and Wang Jin said he had already sent people to the sect for reinforcements. Strangely, Li Hanyu was also among them. Though disheveled, he hadn’t suffered any real injuries. Jing Hengbo went over and heard him bragging to a gang member about how he had single-handedly killed three assassins with his bare hands.

Jing Hengbo pursed her lips. Single-handedly killing assassins with bare hands? More like his lightness skill was too good and he escaped, right?

When Li Hanyu saw her coming, he immediately dodged aside like avoiding a stink bug, even dusting off the corner of his clothes that had been brushed by her hem.

Jing Hengbo chuckled. Just wait, you fool.

They continued on their journey afterward. People continuously joined the team—all subordinates from the Rakshasa Gate, Blazing Fire Alliance, and Flame Gang who had received news and come to provide support.

All along the way, assassins also kept coming, and as the number of people on the Rakshasa Gate’s side increased, the assassins were also upgrading. The assassins were sent by the Shadow Pavilion traitor Lei Shengyu to hunt down Mister Mu, but since other jianghu big shots had also participated in plotting to assassinate Mister Mu, they naturally wouldn’t stand by and watch. When Lei Shengyu’s people repeatedly failed in their assassination attempts, the other big shots couldn’t sit still either and naturally had to send people to join the assassin teams.

On the Rakshasa Gate’s side, they believed they were protecting “Ying Bai” under the Queen’s command, hoping that Ying Bai would lead the way to meet with the Queen and form an alliance. In their understanding, the assassins naturally came from other sects, with the purpose of preventing them from allying with the Queen. While they marveled at how well-informed the other sect leaders were, they desperately tried to protect themselves. As the opposing assassins upgraded, their resistance also continuously escalated.

Later, both sides kept investing more manpower because of the other side’s investment. A simple pursuit and protection operation, where both sides had completely different understandings, actually evolved into a confrontation involving the entire Daimo jianghu—three gates, four alliances, seven major gangs, and thirteen guardians.

All of Daimo was stirred by this, with countless people flowing toward Danling Mountain.

Both sides were like two teams of donkeys blindfolded by Jing Hengbo, being played with as they blindly charged at each other. Jing Hengbo and Mister Mu, the two actual targets, instead leisurely rode in carriages, drank wine, discussed situations, and debated philosophy in the gaps between these collisions.

The two didn’t mention that thrilling night, and Mister Mu didn’t even ask why Jing Hengbo had scolded and chased him away in that mountain cave. There was a kind of unspoken matter fermenting in the silence.

Outside the carriage window: kill, kill, kill—blood and flesh flying everywhere. Inside the carriage window: talk, talk, talk—discussing all the affairs of Daimo.

On this journey, although Jing Hengbo still didn’t give Mister Mu any good looks, in her heart, she increasingly admired him. He had a comprehensive understanding of Daimo and even the entire Great Wilderness. Those complex jianghu power relationships, tangled like hemp, were clearly distinguished threads under his sharp eyes that could be sorted out in a blink.

The relationship between her and him also entered a strange state: both guarded and trusting, both close and distant, both able to entrust each other while each keeping their own secrets. Their interactions also seemed somewhat odd. She acted without male-female precautions, and when they got close, some bumping and touching was inevitable. He neither avoided nor felt constrained, but he never actively approached her either. Except for that night in the “bridal chamber,” he still seemed to be that somewhat kind and gentle but inherently noble Mister Mu, paying attention from extremely close distances while standing remotely at the ends of the earth.

On the second afternoon, after nearly ten assassination attempts, the Rakshasa Gate’s sect leader, Rakshasa, personally arrived at this team.

She wore loose robes with wide sleeves, concealing her severed right hand. Her face was pale with deep dark circles under her eyes. When looking at people, she had gained several traces of fierce qi, and everyone around dared not meet her gaze.

Jing Hengbo heard that this female sect leader usually held sole power in the sect, ruling subordinates extremely strictly, with many disciples in the sect dissatisfied. Now that she had met with trouble, her subordinates seemed less stable. She relied on a group of loyalists to forcibly suppress them, but obviously showed signs of decline and urgently needed to establish some merit to stabilize her position.

Therefore, controlling the Queen naturally became the urgent priority.

Another reason Rakshasa rushed here was that they had searched Danling Mountain for a long time without finding any trace of the Queen, so she came personally, wanting to ask “Ying Bai” face to face.

When she arrived, Jing Hengbo was using chopsticks and beans with Mister Mu to conduct a sandbox simulation.

The door was suddenly slammed open with a bang. Rakshasa, full of murderous aura and with a face like frost, stood at the carriage door. Without even glancing at Jing Hengbo, she said coldly, “Get out.”

Jing Hengbo straightened up, blinking as she looked at Rakshasa, her gaze particularly lingering on her severed right hand.

Wang Jin, following nearby, secretly groaned—after Rakshasa’s arm was severed, her temperament had changed dramatically. Anyone who looked at her an extra time might be unlucky, and looking an extra time at her severed arm might bring fatal disaster. Just on this journey, three people had been killed for inadvertently glancing at her arm.

Sure enough, Rakshasa raised an eyebrow, thick murderous aura surging in her eyes.

Wang Jin made eye signals for Jing Hengbo to quickly get down, but Jing Hengbo acted as if she hadn’t seen them. She waited for Rakshasa to make a move, not minding slowly cutting off her other hand as well.

She sat motionless, looking dumb and foolish. Rakshasa looked up and stared at her, a flash of killing intent in her eyes, slowly raising her hand.

Suddenly, a clear and elegant male voice said, “Like this, Peony, you go down first.”

Jing Hengbo trembled—every time she heard those two words, she had the urge to claw at walls.

A hand reached over, helping her up and guiding her outside. Taking advantage of the situation, he pulled up the curtain inside the carriage. Mister Mu smiled at Rakshasa below the carriage, “Gate Master, please.”

His lip curve was beautiful, his hand holding the curtain slender and white, his eyes deep as night. When Rakshasa looked up, she felt her eyes brighten and couldn’t help being stunned.

Wind passed, lifting Mister Mu’s temples, revealing his beautifully lined jaw.

He was using a human skin mask, not a silver mask, so Rakshasa didn’t recognize him as Mister Mu. The experience at the Jade Tower wine feast that night was too traumatic—she subconsciously avoided it.

Rakshasa stared at his jade-like porcelain skin, her gaze showing unusual brilliance. She had experienced many men, and at a glance, she could confirm that this man before her was a rare jade tree and precious flower, an immortal appearance in the mortal world.

Her heart stirred, the murderous aura between her brows completely gone. She looked up and smiled charmingly at Mister Mu, not even noticing Jing Hengbo walking past her side.

The carriage door closed. Jing Hengbo seemed unconcerned, leaning to one side eating flatbread, taking a bite, looking once, taking a bite, looking once.

Li Hanyu walked over nearby. Though still quite far from her, he frowned and waved his hand, coldly scolding, “Move away! You smell like radishes!”

Jing Hengbo looked at his face—after several days, it surprisingly still hadn’t healed. The bruising on his face seemed to have subsided, but was actually developing toward an even more bizarre color, making this person’s face look even stranger.

Li Hanyu had become increasingly irritable these past two days, with clear worries between his brows. At night, he would glance toward the distance from time to time, sometimes making excuses to relieve himself and running to the wilderness, returning much later with a constipated expression.

At the same time, his attitude toward others became increasingly arrogant, very much with the meaning of “You should all come flatter this young master, and I’ll promote you in the future.” Most of those jianghu ruffians were too lazy to pay him attention, but some mature and scheming ones thought this guy was so arrogant he must have backing, so it wouldn’t hurt to be polite first—nothing to lose. This made them flatter him even more, until he almost wanted to float when walking.

Jing Hengbo felt that jianghu ruffians were just jianghu ruffians—even training a body double was laughably poor. If it were the people from Emperor Song, if they wanted to make a body double, it definitely wouldn’t be easy to expose.

She just smiled at Li Hanyu’s scolding and moved to another place to continue eating. Danling Mountain was near, and the slap was about to be delivered—there was no need to argue with these people now.

She slowly gnawed on the flatbread, glancing at the carriage—what were those two talking about? Oh, Rakshasa was smiling!

They seemed to be having quite a pleasant conversation, hehe.

After a while, Rakshasa got off the carriage, completely changed from her previous gloomy state, smiling with confidence and pride.

Jing Hengbo stared at her, wondering what was wrong with this woman. Had she taken medicine? Had she taken advantage of Old Mu?

“After meeting the Queen, please introduce me, Mister Ying Bai,” Rakshasa smiled gently at the person in the carriage.

“That’s natural,” Mister Mu in the carriage also answered gently.

Jing Hengbo very ungently tore off half the flatbread.

Not far ahead, the light red mountain body showed hazy colors in the light drizzle. That was Danling Mountain—red in color, flat and long in shape. Viewed from afar, it looked like a ridge of rouge painted at the edge of the sky, hence its name.

Jing Hengbo’s gaze swept over a tree by the roadside. On the trunk, there was a familiar mark.

She looked at that mark and smiled slightly.

…

“The Nine Heavenly Gates team was completely annihilated.” In the manor’s secret room, Jian Zhizhuo opened the paper in his hand and reported this news to Qu Shaohong.

Qu Shaohong’s expression was shocked.

“How is that possible! That group had considerable numbers and sophisticated methods—we saw it with our own eyes!”

“That can only mean the opponents were more sophisticated,” Jian Zhizhuo said calmly.

“What do we do now?” Qu Shaohong asked his deeply trusted strategist.

“Report this news to the Nine Heavenly Gates.” Jian Zhizhuo flicked his fingers. “We’ve always worried about not having opportunities to contact otherworldly sects. Now we have one. I’ve already ordered people to secretly collect the Nine Heavenly Gates disciples’ corpses. I believe the Nine Heavenly Gates will be very pleased to receive this meeting gift.”

“What if the Nine Heavenly Gates blame us…”

“Someone in Daimo has already angered them. If they want to act against Daimo, they need a spokesperson here. I think, faced with need and benefits, anything can be overlooked.”

…

Danling Mountain had a cliff from which one could overlook the entire scenery of Danling Mountain. From the cliff, one could see among the red mountain body a green depression. That location was where the Shadow Pavilion’s secret mountain gate was located.

Yelu Qi stood with hands behind his back on the cliff, looking there.

Xianyu Qing stood beside him, expression confused. He didn’t understand why the master had hurried back early but passed by the gate without entering, not letting him return to the main hall either, allowing Lei Shengyu to take control while the main hall was unmanned.

Yelu Qi turned back, saw his questioning expression, and smiled with curved lips.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “What’s mine is mine. I will go back.”

“Then why not now…”

“Lei Shengyu betrayed Mister Mu and is taking advantage of your absence to mobilize personnel, wanting to assassinate Mister Mu on the road.” Yelu Qi smiled. “He’s now controlling the mechanisms and personnel inside the pavilion. If I run back now, wouldn’t I be delivering myself for him to beat?”

“But we can’t stay outside forever…”

“Of course not.” Yelu Qi dusted his sleeves, saying lightly, “When the person who should be beaten has been beaten enough, and someone comes to help me beat Lei Shengyu to death, then I’ll go back. Wouldn’t that save effort?”

He smiled and pointed at the mountain below, his fingers slender.

“After using my things, remember to return them quickly…”

…

Jing Hengbo discovered that when the team truly approached Danling Mountain, the assassinations actually stopped.

Having reached this point, whether Lei Shengyu or the jianghu big shots who had acted against Mister Mu that night, all knew there was no way to keep Mister Mu on the road any longer. Since Mister Mu had returned, he would definitely mobilize his subordinates for counterattack. Since they had already torn off the mask, better to resolve it at the Shadow Pavilion’s mountain gate.

Moreover, the Queen was said to also be at Danling Mountain, so at this moment, the assassins simply waited to go to Danling Mountain.

The jianghu overlords who had acted against Mister Mu that night had already formed a new alliance, deciding it would be best if the Queen submitted, and if not, they would directly eliminate her. With just those few people she had, could she withstand the combined forces of so many factions?

The major forces of Daimo originally wouldn’t be so united, nor would they gather in one place to deal with one person. They preferred to form small groups of two or three, each going their own way. This was also what had given Jing Hengbo the biggest headache initially—when she arrived in Daimo, to gain a foothold, she would inevitably have to subdue all forces. But these people were scattered across northern and southern Daimo, gathering according to geography and relationships. With insufficient strength, even if she acted, she could only deal with one small alliance, and when she acted, it would likely attract attention from other alliances who would unite against her. Then she would face enemies on all sides, easily have her forces dispersed, and fall into a passive position.

The backstabbing in Daimo was too severe. Unless one possessed absolutely crushing military power, no one could withstand the constant erosion from those major and minor forces, sometimes dividing, sometimes combining, with endless schemes.

The best method was to intimidate forcefully when the Daimo big shots gathered with their subordinates, and establish favorable alliances.

That night at the Jade Tower bath wasn’t suitable—the big shots had no one around them then. Even if killed together, it would only cause the major Daimo forces to replace their blood.

Getting these people to gather so she could display her methods wasn’t easy. She was just worrying about having no good way to lure all the big snakes out of their holes, when unexpectedly a Shadow Pavilion and a Mister Mu appeared, attracting everyone’s attention at this time and causing a full-scale upheaval in Daimo’s jianghu.

She raised her head. The sky was slightly blue, like dawn yet like dusk.

What kind of scene would be waiting for her at Danling Mountain?

She was very much looking forward to it.

…

In the mid-afternoon, the convoy was blocked. At the road’s end, a team of fast horses rapidly galloped over. The leading figure’s blue cloak rolled with the sky color, his horse like an angry dragon.

At the front, Rakshasa reined in her horse, her face dark as water, snorting coldly, “Soaring Heaven Gate!”

Soaring Heaven Gate—ranked first among Daimo’s various forces.

Those riders connected head to tail, galloping close without stopping. They split left and right, flowing like water past both sides of the convoy. When the leading rider brushed past Rakshasa, he shouted loudly, “Soaring Heaven’s various gates invite Rakshasa Gate, Blazing Fire Alliance, and Flame Gang colleagues to participate in the assembly and share in this grand occasion!”

He shook his wrist, and a gilded invitation flew out, landing right in front of Rakshasa.

Rakshasa caught it and shouted, “What assembly?”

The two teams of horses crossed behind the convoy once more, circling back in a ring, cloaks fluttering as they rode away in dust, leaving only one arrogant and domineering answer.

“The King-Killing Assembly!”

Billowing dust hit Rakshasa’s face, and she turned pale with anger.

“Soaring Heaven Gate grows more and more arrogant!”

“Kill the king? Which king?” Jing Hengbo asked Mister Mu, who had poked his head out of the carriage.

Mister Mu had a handkerchief in his hand and casually wiped the grease from the chicken leg she had just eaten off her hands. Since she started practicing martial arts, her appetite had greatly increased. She had also become interested in meat dishes she hadn’t much liked before. Her skin was becoming increasingly plump and bright, but her hands and mouth were often greasy, which damaged her image.

“The Queen, of course.”

Jing Hengbo laughed with a “ha” sound and reached up to touch her face.

“The seventh day,” she muttered.

…

The people Rakshasa had sent to gather intelligence returned, saying all of Daimo’s forces had gathered at Danling Mountain and had already discovered traces of the Queen, conducting a joint manhunt.

They also said these people had agreed that no one should try to control the Queen to gain control of Daimo’s royal power. If everyone fought for her, it would destroy Daimo’s existing balance. To prevent the Queen’s existence from affecting Daimo’s stability and causing unrest, it would be better to eliminate her early.

“That damned old bull-nose!” Rakshasa’s powdered face was frosty as she cursed the master of Soaring Heaven Gate, who was a Taoist with several wives.

The scouts also brought back news that there were also changes within the Shadow Pavilion. Lei Shengyu was leading some people to submit to the various Daimo big shots, supporting their sanctions against the Queen, while another part of the Shadow Pavilion said Lei Shengyu was a traitor and insisted on waiting for Mister Mu to return to make decisions. Both sides were also in confrontation, while the Spiritual Rhinoceros Gate, Mad Blade Alliance, and other forces supporting Lei Shengyu had also sent people to help.

“Danling Mountain is very lively today,” Jing Hengbo smiled, looking back at Mister Mu. He was very calm, seeming not worried about the Shadow Pavilion at all.

Rakshasa was cursing loudly. Her wishful thinking had fallen through. The Queen was being jointly blocked and ordered eliminated by other factions, and her carefully prepared honey trap was difficult to deploy. All the painstaking effort of escorting and befriending “Ying Bai” along this journey now seemed like wasted effort.

Indeed, before Rakshasa’s convoy even entered Danling Mountain, they were caught up by people from Soaring Heaven Gate and Trial Sword Alliance. After some false politeness and real threats, Rakshasa’s convoy drove into a section of flat road, parked all carriages uniformly behind a mountain hollow, got off to walk on foot. After a few steps, Jing Hengbo went “Wow!”

So many people!

Before them was a large mountain hollow, very flat, the size of a football field. Now all four sides were packed with people wearing various colored clothing, clearly distinguished. Some places had even set up tents, with some people sitting dignifiedly under the tents. From a distance, some faces looked familiar. Jing Hengbo looked carefully and recognized quite a few as the big white pigs who had been bathing that night.

She indicated she was more familiar with them naked, like that Jade Belt Gang leader with a waist like a water snake—she remembered he had a mole on his left buttock. If she had seen his buttock first, she definitely wouldn’t have needed to recognize him for so long.

In the center of the field was a large wooden platform, showing fresh wood chips—clearly just built.

“Is this for martial arts competition or matchmaking?” Jing Hengbo muttered to herself.

No one paid her attention. When the Queen was sentenced to death, this “hunter’s daughter” used to lure the Queen naturally lost her utility value, and along with the “injured and unable to walk” “Ying Bai,” was forgotten in a corner.

Jing Hengbo even heard gang members suggest to Rakshasa that they present this Ying Bai later, which would count as Rakshasa Gate’s contribution and show their face at this rare grand gathering.

It seemed Rakshasa was very tempted by this suggestion, but after glancing at Mister Mu, she firmly refused and had people carry Mister Mu over, demanding they take good care of him.

Jing Hengbo reflected that this really was a face-based world.

Rakshasa was invited to the central tent for discussions, but her current greatly reduced power meant her position was arranged very far back, making her grind her silver teeth yet helpless.

Halfway up the mountain, figures continued moving, and everyone looked up expectantly.

Jing Hengbo approached the tent and heard someone laughing heartily, “Let’s bet on something today—see who captures the most of the Queen’s subordinates.”

“Better to bet on who captures the Queen first.”

“What’s the stake?”

“A Black Water Marsh fat legacy, how about it?”

Before the words finished, a cheer erupted from ahead: “Caught one! Caught one!”

That was a group wearing black clothes, voices loud. A black-clothed young woman suddenly jumped onto a table, stood on tiptoes looking around, “Caught the Queen? Caught the Queen?”

She jumped suddenly, dust falling from her boots. The big shots sitting at the table all frowned and hurriedly moved their tea cups away.

Mad Blade Alliance leader Meng Kuang frowned and shouted, “Po Tian, get down! What kind of behavior is this!”

Jing Hengbo heard this name and nearly sprayed—Po Tian? What kind of bloody name was that? Had she transmigrated into Jin Yong? Was this Shi Po Tian reincarnated?

That young woman Meng Po Tian, with her slender and tall body, stood steadily on a fine porcelain cup, only looking up at the mountain, completely ignoring her father. She pointed at her subordinate gang members, “If you caught the Queen, don’t kill her first! Let her sleep with me and wash my feet!”

Jing Hengbo “puffed” again—Good lord, this beloved sixth young lady of Mad Blade Alliance, couldn’t she be a lesbian?

That wasn’t right—she seemed to remember Seven Kills saying someone had once been favored by the sixth young lady…

The commotion above gradually quieted, with faint whispers coming down. That young woman Meng Po Tian raised her eyebrows and looked up angrily, “Where is she! Where is she! Where’s the person you caught! Why haven’t you come down for so long!”

“Thwack!” A colorful thing fell down like a cannonball, with someone shamefully shouting, “Sixth Young Master, we caught the Queen’s… bird!”

The men burst into laughter.

Jing Hengbo “puffed” again.

Er Gouzi!

Meng Po Tian raised her hand and caught that colorful thing, meeting that creature’s big eyes with her green bean eyes.

Er Gouzi didn’t struggle. It sighed mournfully in Meng Po Tian’s hand, “The nation is broken but mountains and rivers remain, in spring the city grows deep with grass and trees. Kill Er Gouzi, and others will follow.”

“This bird can recite poetry!” Meng Po Tian said joyfully, “Truly worthy of being the Queen’s bird!” She waved her hand with the tone of a master taking a concubine, “Keep it!” She tossed Er Gouzi into a nearby basket.

The basket contained various strange things, even erotic pictures. Everyone in Daimo’s jianghu knew that while other women carried flower baskets, Miss Meng carried baskets. While other women’s flower baskets contained flowers and food, Miss Meng’s basket contained various weird things she fancied—not seeking value, only novelty. So now Er Gouzi had its left claw stepping on a belly band embroidered with strange patterns, its right claw on a two-headed turtle, while it itself, as a “poetry-reciting Queen’s bird,” had the honor of entering Miss Meng’s basket.

“Return your bright pearl with tears flowing down,” Er Gouzi clung to the basket edge and chanted, “Lord Dog wants to kiss you on the mouth.”

“Haha, this bird is great!” Meng Po Tian was delighted, “I’ll kiss you later! Everyone keep working! I want the Queen and her bird to serve me together!”

“Can you not keep saying ‘my bird’?” Jing Hengbo muttered quietly, “It makes me want to touch my crotch…”

“Caught one! Caught one!” Another commotion above.

A group of people came down like lightning, and under everyone’s expectant gazes, threw out a large bundle of furry stuff tied up.

Jing Hengbo: “…”

“The Queen’s divine beast!” The yellow-clothed Divine Decision Gang members said loudly, quite proudly, glancing sideways at the Blazing Fire Alliance members who had only caught a useless bird.

Beasts were somewhat higher class than birds.

“Ahahaha, a cat!” Meng Po Tian laughed loudly, “Truly a divine beast! Look, a purple cat!”

She jumped off the table and reached out to grab it. Divine Beast Fei ended up in her arms.

Jing Hengbo touched her chin. She wanted to know what her two pets looked like when meeting other beauties. Er Gouzi, that natural traitor, was one thing, but Feifei should at least have some integrity, right?

Feifei indeed had integrity. It squinted its eyes, moved its head closer, and affectionately nuzzled Meng Po Tian’s chin. Its two front paws secretly grabbed at Meng Po Tian’s chest. The feeling under its paws greatly disappointed it. In its indignation, its big tail whipped Meng Po Tian’s cheek.

Jing Hengbo sighed—flat-chested girls, you were all angels with broken wings in your previous lives.

“Haha, this cat actually hits people!” Meng Po Tian wasn’t angry at all but was quite pleased, beaming as she hugged Feifei and kissed it, then threw it into the basket beside her, “I want this one too!”

Jing Hengbo discovered that the people of Daimo’s jianghu seemed quite tolerant of this Mad Blade Alliance young lady.

Beautiful women were popular everywhere. Jianghu people mostly also preferred Meng Po Tian’s uninhibited nature.

In the basket, Er Gouzi greeted Feifei: “Hey, you got caught too?”

That tone was like asking “Are you having breakfast too?”

Feifei calmly stepped over its head, using its head as a stepping stone to cling to the basket edge, big eyes rolling as it stared at Meng Po Tian’s buttocks.

There were cheers from the mountain again, “Caught one! Caught one!”

But this time there were no excited cheers from below. Everyone had learned to be calm. Meng Po Tian pursed her lips and said, “This time it should be a dog, right?”

This time it wasn’t a dog, because someone above was shouting, “Caught the Queen!”