Yanling Town was an inconspicuous border town at the foot of Yanling Mountain. After nightfall, there were few people on the streets. After wandering several streets, they finally managed to find a small establishment called “Fuquan Wine House” to lodge in.

Usually in such remote and desolate places, business was mostly slow. Unexpectedly, the moment they stepped inside, they saw that about half of the ten or so dining tables in the hall were occupied. Just looking at their clothing and manner of eating and speaking, they were clearly wanderers who had traveled the jianghu for many years.

The waiter was frantically busy. Seeing two more customers arrive, he held a plate in his hands but didn’t come forward to greet them, only shouting, “There are empty seats inside—honored guests, please help yourselves.”

When Changling and Ye Qi left Jinling, they had changed into gray linen cloth shirts. After traveling dusty roads all the way, they had long been disheveled by the wind. But the two of them were born handsome—even covered in dust and dirt, they still stood out. Just those few steps from the door to the counter drew quite a bit of attention. Changling rested her hand on her sword hilt, and a cold, sharp killing intent spread without restraint. Many perceptive people quickly turned their heads back, though their peripheral vision still quietly observed them.

Ye Qi paid no mind and said to the old proprietor, “Two upper rooms.”

The old proprietor had been busy calculating accounts. When he looked up at Ye Qi, he was clearly stunned for a moment, but quickly concealed his surprise and said with an apologetic smile, “My apologies, but all the guest rooms in our humble establishment have been reserved. Perhaps you two might try asking elsewhere…”

“Proprietor, you might want to reconsider.” Ye Qi tossed over a silver ingot, flipped it over, and revealed the engraved characters on the bottom. Upon seeing it, the proprietor immediately changed his tune. “Now that you mention it, there is indeed one guest room available… Come, honored guests, follow me upstairs.”

Hearing this, those seated finally withdrew their gazes completely and continued drinking and eating on their own.

The old proprietor led them up the stairs to the third floor. Sure enough, at the end of the corridor, there remained a fairly spacious guest room. Though the furnishings were old, tables, chairs, bed, and cabinets were all present. Changling had just set down her bundle when the old proprietor suddenly closed the room door and knelt before Ye Qi in reverence. “Dai Le pays respects to Young Master.”

Changling was slightly startled. Ye Qi stepped forward. “No need for excessive courtesy. This place has many eyes and ears—beware of walls having ears.”

“Young Master can rest assured. The neighboring guest room is also occupied by our people.”

Dai Le rose and walked to the wall by the window, lightly tapping the window frame a few times. In less than a moment, a figure flashed past the window—someone had heard the signal and, using the balcony outside, flipped through the window to enter. The moment this person jumped in and saw Ye Qi, he immediately knelt. “Tao Feng pays respects to Young Master.”

The name “Tao Feng” sounded somewhat familiar. Changling couldn’t help but take another look at him, feeling that this profile seemed to have been seen somewhere before.

Ye Qi helped him stand up. Only then did Tao Feng raise his head to clearly see Changling’s appearance, and he couldn’t help but be shocked. “You…”

“What is it?” Ye Qi was somewhat surprised. “You know each other?”

Tao Feng examined her once more, confirming he hadn’t mistaken the person. “The expert who rescued Mingyue Zhou and escaped alive from Mu Wangbao—it’s her! Young Master, she’s one of Mingyue Zhou’s people. How could you be together with her?”

“Oh, it’s you. You’re still alive?” Changling also remembered—at the suspension bridge on Luming Mountain, the young man skilled with crossbows who had led Cang Yun in an ambush to intercept them, claiming to be subordinate to Young Master He, seemed to be this very person.

“This truly is a strange twist of fate.” Ye Qi turned his head and spoke gently to Changling. “Tao Feng is the general manager of our He family’s Jiangling fief. At that time, when the Yan Army was about to invade the border, if not for Manager Tao’s assistance, getting Mingyue Zhou to Mu Wangbao wouldn’t have been so easy. However, despite all our calculations, we never expected you would also be in the fortress. Later, Manager Tao nearly died under Tianpo’s blade…”

“If not for Young Master ordering Old Dai to come to the rescue, Tao Feng would likely still be in a Yan Kingdom prison cell at this moment.” Saying this, he bowed to Ye Qi again.

Ye Qi waved his hand. “Alright, let me introduce her. This is Miss Changting. She’s now on the same side as us, so…”

“Who’s on the same side as you?” Changling unhappily raised her eyebrows. Though their actions were justifiable in wartime between two nations, if not for Tao Feng’s obstruction, Chu Tiansu wouldn’t have died. This debt—she still remembered it clearly in her heart.

Just looking at how his own marquis spoke to Changling, Tao Feng thought to himself: This young lady is so breathtakingly beautiful, no wonder everyone who sees her falls for her. It seems Young Master is pursuing her urgently—perhaps she’ll be our mistress in the future.

With this thought, he respectfully bowed. “Tao Feng was blind and didn’t know the young lady belonged to Young Master. I greatly offended you at Mu Wangbao—please forgive me, Miss.”

Changling ignored him and sat down at the round table on her own. “You’re mistaken. I’m not your Young Master’s person.”

Seeing the hidden resentment in her words, Ye Qi sat down beside her. “You’re absolutely right—she’s not my person. But your Young Master here is her person… From now on, Miss Changting’s wishes are my wishes. Whatever orders she gives, you must obey without exception. Do you both understand clearly?”

“Understood.” Both Tao Feng and Dai Le were clever people. If their Young Master wanted to please his beloved, how could they dare not fully cooperate?

“Good.” Changling glanced at Tao Feng. “I want you to commit suicide before me to atone. Will you obey?”

Dai Le was shocked upon hearing this. Tao Feng only paused slightly, then without the slightest hesitation, drew a short arrow from the leather tube at his waist and swiftly thrust it toward his own heart. When the arrow tip broke skin by half an inch, his palm suddenly became empty. He didn’t even see clearly how Changling had moved—he only saw her playing with his short arrow in her hand, smiling yet not quite smiling as she addressed Ye Qi. “The people of your He family are indeed utterly loyal to you.”

Ye Qi propped up his chin and said earnestly, “What do you mean ‘your He family’? From now on, isn’t what’s mine all yours?”

This Young Marquis He would vomit blood and faint from just “a little intimacy” in private, yet in front of others he had no proper form, his face thick enough to be used as padding. Changling was too lazy to banter with him and only said, “Didn’t you say when we reached Yanling Town there would be hot soup to drink?”

A moment later, the table in the Heaven room was filled with various meat dishes. Though the chef’s skills were mediocre, the mountain chicken and wild duck meat quality was excellent. After gnawing through two drumsticks, Changling’s mood improved slightly. After listening to Ye Qi and Tao Feng discuss recent situations for quite a while, she finally interjected, “So you acquired this wine house in advance to conveniently monitor these jianghu people?”

Tao Feng nodded. “Correct. Actually, this wine house’s original owner was similar in age to Old Dai, and they both have Shu region accents. With Old Dai slightly disguised and still using the original chef, the people here haven’t noticed anything amiss.”

Ye Qi asked, “I heard from Seventh Uncle that you followed Jing Wuwei here to Yanling Town that day. What exactly was the situation?”

“Initially, we discovered four jianghu people meeting with Jing Wuwei at a farmhouse. After Jing Wuwei left, those four remained. Within a few days, they moved to this inn and stayed for over a month.” Tao Feng continued, “Fortunately, we were well prepared. Old Dai disguised himself as the proprietor, while I changed my appearance every few days as different lodgers, coming and going. Each time I just ‘happened’ to stay in the room next to theirs, gathering information about their movements.”

Those four people were naturally Xu Laifeng, Wuma Yi, Tong Yuan, and Cen Feng.

Ye Qi asked again, “Are those four people still in the inn?”

Tao Feng shook his head. “Of those four, two are dead, one fled, and now only the one surnamed Xu remains in Yanling Town.”

Both Changling and Ye Qi were shocked, asking in unison, “How did they die?”

Tao Feng lowered his voice. “Speaking of it, it was all caused by trying to climb Yanling Mountain.”

Yanling Mountain had always been a “forbidden topic” place for Yanling Town.

It was said that starting about twenty years ago, there were continuous incidents of villagers dying or disappearing after going up the mountain. Some said there were ghosts on the mountain, others said it was an evil spirit’s curse. As the rumors grew increasingly mysterious, residents in the town moved away if they could, and those who remained stayed far from the mountain—in any case, as long as they didn’t approach that mountain, they remained safe and sound.

The night Jing Wuwei passed through, he secretly plotted something with those four men. A few days later, they agreed to climb Yanling Mountain together. On the morning of their ascent, Tao Feng hid far away in the bushes watching. There was only one entrance and exit to Yanling Mountain. He didn’t dare rashly enter the mountain, so he waited outside for an entire day. When the sun set, he saw Xu Laifeng, Wuma Yi, and Cen Feng exit one after another. Wuma Yi and Cen Feng cursed all the way, blaming each other for not keeping up closely. If not for Xu Laifeng finding them in time, they might never have been able to leave.

Hearing this, Ye Qi interjected with a question. “Is that Yanling Mountain some kind of maze forest?”

Tao Feng looked at him with great surprise. “Young Master is truly divinely perceptive. From what they said, the tall forest inside that mountain is like a labyrinth, with layer upon layer of mist. Once inside, it’s very easy to lose direction. That escort chief named Tong got separated and didn’t come out with them.”

When Tong Yuan was lost, Xu Laifeng and the others assumed he was just temporarily lost in the dark and would eventually find his way out. But the next evening, villagers found two sections of human limbs by the riverside in the village—one section was an arm connected to a chest, the other was a leg. Xu Laifeng and the others took one look and knew it was Tong Yuan.

Changling’s brow furrowed. “He was dismembered?”

“Dismembered, yes. As for whether it was done by a person, that’s hard to say.” Tao Feng also felt somewhat chilled at this point. He took a sip from his hot teacup and continued, “Just from the severed parts of the corpse, it looked more like it had been torn apart, then thrown down the mountain, flowing into the river along the mountain stream. Many villagers said it was the work of evil spirits.”

Changling and Ye Qi exchanged glances. Ye Qi asked, “After such an incident, how did the other three dare to go up the mountain again?”

Tao Feng was suddenly stunned. “How did Young Master know they went up the mountain again?”

Changling said, “Didn’t you say two of them died?”

“After those three buried their companion, they left Yanling Town. I originally thought they were gone for good, but a few days later, another incomplete corpse appeared on the mountain’s riverbank.” Tao Feng said, “When the villagers were fishing out the body, I recognized at a glance that the head belonged to the man named Cen Feng. Later, as more and more onlookers gathered, I discovered Xu Laifeng and Wuma Yi were also among them.”

Xu Laifeng and Wuma Yi had arrived afterward.

After seeing Cen Feng’s dismembered corpse, Wuma Yi was so frightened he nearly wet himself. Like a madman, he said to Xu Laifeng, “I told you long ago—what’s strange is the mountain, not the road! Even taking a detour would be the same, but he just wouldn’t listen, just wouldn’t listen! Xu Laifeng, if you want to search, search yourself. I won’t risk my life with you! If the General asks, just say I quit!”

After saying those words, Wuma Yi fled overnight, leaving only Xu Laifeng behind.

“So they originally wanted to circle around to the other side of the mountain, planning to find an alternative route, but the result was the same.” Ye Qi asked, “Manager Tao, do you know what the other side of the mountain looks like?”

Tao Feng produced a hand-drawn sheepskin map and gestured slightly. “The other side is the Yan River, which has a water dam. Between the Yan River and Yanling Mountain is another forest, also perpetually shrouded in white mist. As for what’s inside that forest, no one knows.”

Changling asked, “Then where did all these jianghu people in this inn come from?”

Tao Feng replied, “A few days ago, someone offered a large sum of money and instructed Old Dai that whoever came to lodge must carry a silver ingot engraved with the character ‘Wu’ to be allowed to stay. If they didn’t have one, he was to say the inn was fully booked. These people all watch each other closely, afraid of outsiders infiltrating, so these past two days I could only appear with my true face, using the alias Tao Yu.”

Ye Qi said to Changling, “This character ‘Wu’ should be the ‘Wu’ from Jing Wuwei.”

“These people should be jianghu wanderers newly hired by Jing Wuwei. Actually, they only arrived a few days ago.” Tao Feng said in a low voice, “Their martial arts aren’t particularly high—mostly bandits who haunt mountain forests and ghost domains. However, looking at them, they seem unclear about what exactly they’re supposed to find. Jing Wuwei probably hasn’t told them the truth… Because of the two dismemberment incidents that occurred at Yanling Mountain this past month, they don’t dare act alone. Right now they’re gathered in the hall downstairs because they want to discuss things clearly with their leader before climbing the mountain together tomorrow.”

Just as they were wondering who this leader was, they heard Dai Le’s voice from the downstairs hall. “Master Xu, you’re finally back. Everyone has been waiting for you all day.”

Changling and Ye Qi quietly pushed open the door and hid at the corner of the upper corridor, looking down. As Xu Laifeng stepped into the hall, quite a few people at the tables stood up in unison respectfully. “Island Master Xu!”

Xu Laifeng wore dark blue short robes with a circle of fox fur around his collar, held a folding fan, and had a short sword hanging at his waist. Seeing everyone performing jianghu salutes toward him, he politely returned the gesture with clasped fists. “Everyone, please don’t stand on ceremony. I’ve heard you were all invited by the Great General and are all experts at traversing mountains and forests.”

Hearing that this Xu Laifeng was a trusted confidant of the Great General, yet was so polite in his speech and didn’t put on any official airs, everyone relaxed. Some boasted about having crossed the ten great maze forests under heaven, others claimed they were raised by wolves in the forest and had abundant experience dealing with forest beasts. Everyone spoke over each other, and the place quickly became lively.

Changling’s impression of this Xu Laifeng had always remained at that night. By all logic, this person didn’t covet glory or profit—witnessing two companions die and one flee, yet still persisting to remain… this showed that whatever was hidden in Yanling Mountain held tremendous allure for him.

Ye Qi once said he was obsessed with martial arts… Could it be that Wu Run’s other half of the folding fan was truly in Yanling Mountain?

Xu Laifeng was getting a headache from their cacophonous chatter and slapped the table to signal for quiet. “Everyone, listen. I’ve been up Yanling Mountain a total of four times. The first two times, companions died from getting lost—everyone should have heard about this. Afterward, I went up the mountain alone. Though I never successfully crossed through the dense forest at the mountain’s waist, I did return safely. Regarding the mountain’s terrain, everywhere I’ve walked is drawn on this map. I’ll explain it to everyone in detail shortly. Tomorrow, as long as you follow what I say, there should be no danger to your lives. But if anyone leaves the group without permission, then what happens to them—I cannot guarantee.”

With that, he hung a half-person-tall sheepskin map on the counter wall. Everyone crowded forward to examine it. Dai Le also pretended to be curious and stole a few glances, seeing that about half of the dense forest distribution on the map was circled in vermillion. The uncircled areas were presumably positions Xu Laifeng hadn’t walked through.

From Ye Qi’s angle, he couldn’t see clearly what was drawn on the map. After listening to Xu Laifeng explain for a moment, he turned his head and whispered, “It seems this mountain forest is quite large. Xu Laifeng plans to use these people to infiltrate bit by bit. As long as each person cooperates with him in making different markers, he’ll be able to find a path through the forest.”

Besides Dai Le, there were sixteen people in the hall. Xu Laifeng roughly arranged them into groups of five each. Seeing that the extra person was a rather short and thin man, he said tactfully, “This… young hero, Yanling Mountain’s terrain is complex. There might even be traps and mechanisms—I’m afraid I won’t be able to provide much care. Why don’t you just stay at the mountain’s base tomorrow…”

Before he could finish, that “young hero” snorted coldly. “Island Master Xu looks down on me? I, You San, know my fists and feet are mediocre, but my ‘Wind Passing Without Trace’ lightness skill, while not first or second in the jianghu, can certainly rank third. If there’s any unusual movement, I can naturally handle it without needing Island Master Xu’s concern! Besides, this time even weak scholars and women can participate—why should I be excluded?”

When Xu Laifeng heard the word “women,” his eyebrows jumped sharply with alertness. “What women?”

That You San pointed upward. “Tonight a man and woman came to lodge. Old Boss Dai just took them upstairs. What, aren’t they people invited by General Jing?”

Seeing Xu Laifeng’s questioning gaze, Dai Le hurriedly said, “Actually, they…”

The next moment, everyone’s vision blurred. They saw Xu Laifeng leap into the air, instantly flying several zhang high. He didn’t even borrow any force midway—his movement technique was so fast that even You San, who prided himself as “third in lightness skills under heaven,” was dumbfounded.

Xu Laifeng landed on the creaking old floorboards, gazing at those two people standing at the end of the third-floor corridor. His eyes narrowed slightly.

“You’re the ones from outside Jinling City that time…”

“Jianbing with soybean paste.” Ye Qi stepped forward and cupped his hands toward Xu Laifeng, smiling. “Island Master Xu, we’re truly fated to meet again.”