If those present initially held some slight contempt for Changling, after she exchanged blows with Daoist Xu, all their peripheral emotions unanimously transformed into hostility.

Fortunately, Ye Qi could still, after a moment of shock, smile at her warmly. “Certainly.”

Hearing him agree so readily, everyone showed astonished expressions. Even Yu Ping couldn’t help but worry on Ye Qi’s behalf—this young woman could easily defeat even Daoist Xu. If they were truly left alone together, what if Young Master Ye got devoured alive?

A hush fell over the surroundings. Changling walked toward Ye Qi step by step. Just as she drew near his side, suddenly her vision went black, her feet went soft, and without warning she fell forward… landing steadily in Ye Qi’s embrace.

Ye Qi: “…”

Yu Ping stood stunned. “What happened to her?”

Ye Qi lightly checked her pulse. “She’s unconscious.”

Just like that, she fainted?

Originally still in the midst of a tense atmosphere, they were completely caught off guard when she suddenly collapsed. But Daoist Xu pointed a finger at Changling. “Capture her!”

A large group of young disciples was just preparing to rush forward when Ye Qi had already lifted Changling horizontally in his arms. His eyebrows and eyes were still curved in a harmless manner, but the Taixu Sect people didn’t have the courage to step forward and seize her. Daoist Xu looked at Ye Qi. “Young Master Ye, what is the meaning of this?”

Ye Qi said, “Since I promised Mingyue Fei, naturally I must wait until she wakes up to have a proper talk with her.”

“Right now the Yan Army is searching everywhere. We don’t have time to waste with her anymore.” Daoist Xu stepped forward. “Young Master Ye, since you are someone sent by the He family, we naturally should give you some face. But this demon woman concerns the safety of our eight sects. If there’s the slightest mishap…”

Ye Qi sighed lightly. “She’s been injured. If we don’t treat her injuries, I’m afraid she won’t even wake up. Is there anyone else here versed in medical principles?”

Daoist Xu was stunned. Ye Qi surveyed the circle again. “We’ve already set up the Nine Curves Linked Formation in the forest outside the village. At least tonight is safe. As for how to find clues from Mingyue Fei, I have my methods. Young Master He sent me to assist all of you—you should have some trust in me.”

His voice was gentle, his tone steady. Hearing it gave people an inexplicable sense of conviction. Daoist Xu opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t produce a single word of rebuttal. Ye Qi smiled, turned, and left. Yu Ping looked left and right. After some internal struggle, he still followed.

Changling hadn’t expected she would faint.

In fact, from carrying Mingyue Zhou all the way fleeing from Mu Wangbao to being inexplicably kidnapped before Wei City, over these several days and nights, aside from eating rabbit meat once and some wild fruits, she had barely swallowed any other food.

She had collapsed from hunger and exhaustion.

So as soon as she regained consciousness, she couldn’t help but open her eyes to look around for something to fill her stomach.

As a result, she discovered her hands were bound behind her back, lying alone on a bamboo couch in a small stone room with no one else present.

She struggled to sit up. Though her head was dizzy and muddled, she could still detect that there were people stationed outside the door and by the window of this room, most likely to prevent her escape.

Thinking of that group of confused people outside, she sighed to herself.

Had she known she would fall into such a predicament, she should have kicked that Ye fellow off the carriage while they were on it. At least then she wouldn’t be without even something to eat.

She tried to undo her restraints. With one glance at the way the rope knots were tied on her arms, she gave up the futile struggle. Fortunately, whoever bound her hadn’t tied her feet. She sat cross-legged, calmed her mind, and circulated her true qi for a while before recovering sensation in her limbs.

She was considering whether to notify the guards to summon Young Master Ye when she faintly heard someone sighing. The sound was barely audible, coming from above the stone room.

She looked up at the high ceiling and realized someone was on the roof tiles.

Without thinking, Changling’s body lightly leapt up, stopping silently on the beam. The distance between the wooden beam and stone ceiling was just enough for one person. She pressed her ear close to the wall base, and the conversation outside transmitted clearly inside.

“Why did this Mingyue Fei faint… I clearly didn’t see Daoist Xu injure her…”

Changling recognized this as Yu Ping’s voice. She heard another person say, “She’s carrying injuries, but right now she’s just tired. Rest a bit and she’ll be fine.”

This person always spoke with detached indifference as if it had nothing to do with him. Without much thought, it was naturally Ye Qi.

As soon as he sent Changling back to the room, Daoist Xu dispatched a group of youngsters to follow closely, surrounding the stone room front and back without a gap, as if deeply afraid Changling would wake and fly away with wings.

Ye Qi found it amusing but was too lazy to waste more words. Letting them fuss about, he flicked his sleeves and went out to climb onto the roof, lying comfortably on the tiles to observe the stars.

He estimated that Changling’s unconsciousness would last at least an hour or two. He might as well take advantage of this gap to sort through all this inexplicable confusion and see if he could figure something out.

But he couldn’t have predicted Changling would wake so quickly, much less that Yu Ping’s qinggong was so poor that even jumping onto the roof would make such a huge commotion, completely masking the sound of the airborne leap from inside the room.

Yu Ping’s eyes widened. “But you still told the Daoist she was gravely injured…”

Ye Qi helplessly rubbed his brow. “I was afraid Daoist Xu couldn’t control his temper and would chop off this girl’s hand with one blade. Then we’d all be finished…”

“But—but wasn’t it Young Master Ye who said that as long as we captured this demon woman, the Yan thieves would fall into disarray and we’d have an opportunity…”

“All of that was premised on Mingyue Zhou still being in Mu Wangbao. But he’s already returned to the Yan Army… Though I also didn’t expect how he could escape. Today we kidnapped someone right in front of him. He couldn’t possibly not guess our origins. Once he’s on guard, forget rescuing people—as long as he sets up defense posts at the Yan border checkpoints, catching us would be like catching turtles in a jar.”

“Then why are we still sitting here? We need to tell everyone about this…”

Just as Yu Ping was about to stand up, Ye Qi reached out to tug at his sleeve. “Quiet down. Let me think first.”

Told to be quiet, Yu Ping obediently sat back down. Frightened and anxious from Ye Qi’s few words, seeing this instigator close his eyes without producing anything for a long time, he spoke rashly in his panic. “Ah, if only Young Master He were here. He’d surely think of a perfect strategy.”

Hearing this, Ye Qi glanced at Yu Ping. Yu Ping immediately realized his slip of tongue and hastily patched it up. “Uh… of course, Young Master Ye was sent by Young Master He. I… I still have some confidence in you.”

“…”

Yu Ping finally understood what it meant to be clumsy with words and that the more one spoke, the more mistakes one made.

Ye Qi didn’t really mind and continued staring at the stars in a daze. Seeing he wouldn’t respond, Yu Ping felt the awkward atmosphere becoming unbearable. After racking his brains for ages, he squeezed out another sentence. “…I heard that the reason our Eastern Xia martial world fell for the Yan thieves’ scheme was because a fan that disappeared ten years ago reappeared in the martial world… Is this true?”

Ye Qi’s eyebrow twitched. “Hmm?”

“I don’t know much more than that. My martial uncle only mentioned to us that on that day, Master followed Taixu Sect and six other sect leaders to rush to the border overnight to save someone—the owner of that half fan… But I never heard that person’s name… It seemed… seemed to be surnamed Fu, called something…”

“Liujing.”

Ye Qi spoke lightly. “He’s called Fu Liujing.”

Changling’s breathing stopped.

Across that thick stone wall, these three characters caught her unprepared, drilling into her ears and exploding solidly in her chest.

For a moment, she couldn’t hear the sounds outside. Her eyes and heart were full of those fragmented memories piling up. By the time she came to her senses, Ye Qi had said something that made Yu Ping gasp. “Could it be he also fell into Yan people’s hands?”

Ye Qi said indifferently, “Perhaps. At least half a fan really appeared. Precisely because of this, several sect leaders thought to follow the vine to find Fu Liujing. Who could have known they’d fall for the Yan people’s scheme?”

Yu Ping was speechless for a long time. “Then… why save him? Anyway, this person has disappeared without a trace for ten years…”

Ye Qi pillowed his hands under his head and crossed his legs. “That’s unknown. Since they all say he’s some chaotic times hero who turned the tide and saved the people from fire and water, maybe your masters all received his grace… Or perhaps…”

Before he could say what that “perhaps” was, suddenly there came a bang from inside the room, startling both Ye Qi and Yu Ping. They looked at each other and hastily jumped off the roof, rushing into the room to see what had happened.

Then they saw Changling sitting on the ground with a wooden chair split in half lying beside her.

Changling glanced at the several young men who came upon hearing the commotion and said flatly, “Nothing. I accidentally kicked the chair when getting out of bed.”

“…”

Everyone in the room widened their eyes. Yu Ping held back, finally managing to swallow the words “Do you think we’re all blind?”

Changling had already returned to sit on the couch. Her gaze naturally fell on Ye Qi. Ye Qi first startled, then turned to the others. “You go out first.”

Yu Ping and the others looked at each other. Though rather unwilling, they still complied with Ye Qi’s wishes and obediently left the stone room, clearing a space for the two of them.

After the door closed, the room was silent for a short while. Ye Qi followed the wooden chair’s position to look up at the beam, rather awkwardly scratching his head. “You heard what we said?”

Changling looked at Ye Qi with some displeasure.

Originally she had been sitting steadily on the wooden beam. If it weren’t for hearing that phrase about “turning the tide” or whatever out of nowhere, she wouldn’t have been so startled that her head became heavy and her feet light, carelessly tumbling down.

How did Fu Liujing, that scum who colluded with foreign thieves to invade his own territory, become a chaotic times hero!

Could it be that his conspiracy with Shen Yao to murder the Yue Family Army and poison people was unknown to all?