The Western Rong soldiers were greatly alarmed. A tattooed man who had been following the Eagle Master from afar shouted: “Poison!”

With a collective clang, the Western Rong soldiers drew their curved blades.

The Eagle Master struggled to say: “It’s not… my throat…”

Facing the gleaming cold blades, Feiyu crossed his arms and said coolly: “What poison? Didn’t you see we ladled soup from the same pot? This fool got choked by a fishbone. Never eaten fish before, chewing so recklessly like that.”

After speaking, he paused.

Indeed, he really had never eaten fish.

Tie Ci was caught between laughter and tears. Seeing the Western Rong soldiers in chaos and Da Qian soldiers holding back laughter while offering various suggestions—some saying to drink vinegar, others to swallow rice balls—but where would they find vinegar and rice balls at this moment?

The Eagle Master gulped down lots of water but showed no improvement. He immediately waved his hand broadly: “Forget it, leave it be. It’s fine.”

Tie Ci stood up, asking Feiyu for a hairpin. Feiyu produced an ornate hairpin from his sleeve. Tie Ci chuckled—she knew he carried more women’s accessories than she did.

She bent the thin hairpin into tweezers and beckoned the Eagle Master forward.

Under Feiyu’s pressing gaze, the Eagle Master strode forward without hesitation.

Tie Ci had him sit down, concentrated her vision to clearly see the small bone stuck in his esophagus, commanded him to lift his mask and open his mouth wide, then inserted the hairpin tip.

The gleaming hairpin tip pointed at the Eagle Master’s throat.

The tattooed man suddenly rushed forward, blocking with his horizontal blade: “What are you trying to do to our Eagle Master?”

“Remove the fishbone.”

“Removing a fishbone requires such a sharp instrument? You’re clearly attempting to murder our Eagle Master!”

“Fine then. This bone is stuck deep. If it can’t be removed, it will cause the wound to inflame, fester, and become infected, possibly even leading to death.” Tie Ci spread her hands. “I won’t force it. Choose for yourself.”

The Eagle Master pushed the tattooed man aside with one hand: “The bone isn’t stuck in your throat, so you don’t know the pain.”

The tattooed man was speechless.

Tie Ci smiled, thinking this fellow clearly wasn’t the trusting type, yet he trusted her quite well.

The bright hairpin probed into the throat.

With her enhanced vision, Tie Ci quickly extracted the fishbone. Though the bone was too small and difficult to remove, as long as it wasn’t stuck in the esophagus, it would go down easily.

Earlier, Tie Ci had concentrated on removing the fishbone. Now that it no longer posed a threat, her gaze fell on the jaw revealed after lifting the mask.

The jaw was sharply defined with green stubble. From jaw to upper neck was a diagonal scar that had healed, leaving only an inconspicuous pale mark. But from its position, one could see how life-threatening the danger had been.

Dan Ye didn’t have this scar.

Nor did he have such heavy facial hair.

However, this smooth, handsome jawline was somewhat similar…

And these lips…

What shape were Dan Ye’s lips? She couldn’t quite remember.

She stared at the Eagle Master’s lips too long, so that those thin-upper-thick-lower lips under her burning gaze moved slightly.

Revealing a flash of snow-white tooth tip.

Tie Ci suddenly felt those lips were enlarging.

The force of the hand pressing her shoulder was also increasing.

Suddenly, pulling force came from behind. She staggered backward, falling into Feiyu’s embrace.

Feiyu clasped her shoulder, spun her around into his arms, saying lightly: “Don’t get too close. Watch out for bad breath.”

Tie Ci: …If you didn’t have supreme martial arts, you’d have been beaten to death long ago.

Behind her, the Eagle Master had been sitting, but the moment she suddenly left, his body leaned forward, then he abruptly stood up.

Tie Ci thought he was coming to fight, but he only looked at Feiyu with sinister eyes, then at her, before walking away without a word.

Everyone who thought a bloody incident was about to occur breathed a sigh of relief.

Someone drinking soup asked Feiyu: “In this weather and place, where did you get bird eggs?”

Feiyu pointed to distant snow mountains: “I climbed up there once. Saw a bird’s nest and brought some back.”

Everyone’s gaze fell on the high peak of the distant snow mountains, their expressions vacant.

That nest position on the snow mountain… only eagles would build nests there!

This guy brought back eagle eggs?

How wicked was that!

Someone said with a collapsed expression: “Eagles are the supreme totem of our chief’s tribe!”

Though Western Rong tribes had countless totems, totems were also ranked high, middle, and low. Eagles were the supreme totem, divine birds worshipped by all Western Rong people.

Someone remembered that earlier these fish had been lured by eagle egg liquid, contaminated with eagle egg liquid, and then they broke taboos eating fish, indirectly equivalent to eating eagles…

Some people were already kowtowing.

Da Qian people’s thinking was more practical: “I heard eagles are very vengeful.”

Feiyu smiled: “Perfect.”

Everyone was wondering what this meant when they heard an eagle’s cry from the high sky.

Speak of the eagle and the eagle arrives.

Feiyu rose gracefully: “Perfect. We’re short on meat—let’s get an eagle for reserve food.”

Everyone: “…”

We can’t match the boss’s level.

The Eagle Master, who was walking away, stumbled, then quickly walked out of everyone’s sight.

A small black dot appeared high in the sky. The dot grew larger and larger, diving down at extreme speed.

It was almost at the oasis edge.

Suddenly, an eagle cry came from the distance.

That sound was even more fierce and clear—clearly an eagle cry only a premium eagle could make.

Everyone thought this was bad—another more powerful one had come. If the boss couldn’t handle it, the small soldiers would suffer.

However, as soon as that cry sounded, the diving eagle suddenly made a turn, spread its long wings, flew diagonally in another direction, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Everyone was astonished, not understanding what happened—how did the fierce eagle coming for revenge suddenly retreat on its own?

On the other side of the oasis.

A gyrfalcon paced back and forth anxiously.

Wing-folding sounds came from above as another giant black eagle landed. The gyrfalcon went to meet it, and the two eagles nuzzled affectionately for a while, then the newly arrived black eagle made low cooing sounds.

The gyrfalcon’s golden, gleaming eyes turned toward the Eagle Master with grievance.

I finally got a wife and laid some eggs, but they were stolen.

Stolen, and I can’t even take revenge—I have to swallow my anger and slink away with my tail between my legs.

If I can’t take revenge, fine, but you also make me hide, skulking around unable to come out.

Every time I encounter that woman, I’m the one who gets hurt.

Are we still brothers or not!

The Eagle Master consolingly patted its head, and hearing what seemed like approaching footsteps, pushed it into the bushes.

The gyrfalcon made angry low calls, but the Eagle Master quickly covered its beak.

However, it was the tattooed man who emerged. The Eagle Master sighed in relief.

The tattooed man asked in confusion: “Eagle Master, that Ye Ci is…”

The Eagle Master nodded silently.

“Then why…”

The Eagle Master turned around, and the tattooed man had to swallow his question.

The Eagle Master looked at that seemingly endless expanse of white.

A person who had lost everything—the past was like death.

What face did a dead person have to accept others’ sympathy and pity?

…

As dusk first fell, a long column left the oasis.

The soldiers received new orders—tonight they would leave the oasis and march southwest.

That was where the Eagle Master and Adjutant Yu deduced the enemy’s main force was most concentrated.

No one questioned why they should leave their safe harbor, nor did anyone fear the coming fierce battle. Half a year of survival in the oasis, constantly suffering attacks from natural disasters and human calamities, had made these weary men accustomed to killing and bloodshed. Those who couldn’t return home never feared death.

The snow wasn’t thick but hadn’t melted. The dark mass of people split into streams ten li after leaving the oasis, with a small team changing direction.

That was the Eagle Master, Tie Ci, Feiyu, the academy students, and several soldiers with the strongest combat ability.

They were going to find Chen Tuntian.

To leave the desert, they first had to deal with this old monster.

He had been injured before—strike while he was down.

No one knew where Chen Tuntian was. The desert was so vast, and legend said he could sleep under the sand for dozens of days without emerging.

Not knowing where he was, they’d make him come out himself. Tie Ci knew Chen Tuntian had a very violent temperament and was thinking of ways to anger the old monster when the Eagle Master said he had a method.

He stood on a high slope and made a sharp whistle.

Moments later, eagle cries pierced the high sky, cutting through the black night like steel wire.

That sound layered upon layer—clearly not from one eagle.

Tie Ci looked up at the sky, but unfortunately the distance was too far and it was night, so she couldn’t see clearly.

That eagle spread its wings, crossing dozens of li in an instant. The eagle cries were extremely penetrating, seeming to spread throughout the entire desert, continuous and unending.

Tie Ci thought this bird had really good lung capacity.

Legend said Chen Tuntian loved quiet and hated noise, which was why he preferred living in the desert where few people and creatures went.

She wondered if he found the eagle cries overhead annoying.

Indeed he found them annoying.

Soon the eagle cries changed rhythm, becoming short and cheerful.

The Eagle Master led the way, everyone following the sound.

After crossing several sand dunes, they saw a sand pit sunken into lower terrain below.

Several eagles circled up and down, continuously dropping excrement from high altitude.

Large patches of blue-green bird droppings kept falling on that sand pit.

Tie Ci gasped.

Using this method to force out Chen Tuntian—the Eagle Master was also ruthless.

Sure enough, after a short while, that sand pit suddenly sank downward.

Then a plume of sand exploded outward.

It seemed like a huge yellow-white sand fan opened in the sky.

That sand fan viciously struck the wing of the lowest-flying eagle.

The Eagle Master shot out like a cannonball, drawing his blade while still in mid-air. The blade light was like snow, scattering a cluster of golden yellow as he landed on that eagle’s dark, craggy talons.

Then he raised his arm, and the eagle took the opportunity to fly high.

As he rescued the eagle, sand formed into a giant pillar behind him, silently taking shape and crashing down.

The next instant, Tie Ci appeared in front of the Eagle Master, yanking him away forcefully.

The sand pillar quietly dispersed as if it had never appeared.

But under Qi Yuansi’s feet, a sand pillar suddenly exploded, catching him off guard as he was launched several zhang high.

The sand pillar disappeared again. Just as Qi Yuansi was about to crash down spread-eagle, a figure flashed and Tie Ci caught him.

However, the moment she caught him, the ground shook and another sand pillar shot skyward.

The two were launched high again. Qi Yuansi’s shouts echoed through the desert: “Ahhh, I’m afraid of heights!”

Swishing sounds, blue-black fan shadows danced gracefully, banging as they pushed the sand pillar aside. Qi Yuansi tumbled down, face-first into the accumulated sand pile.

Feiyu’s voice was casual: “Afraid of heights? Fall a few more times and you won’t be afraid.”

With a whoosh, light blazed from all directions as Rong Pu lit one fire after another, surrounding the sand pit.

Light smoke dispersed with a bitter, fishy smell.

The person below seemed enraged. Sand pillars rose and fell, appearing and disappearing, constantly launching people into the air.

This kind of attack had no pattern—no one could prepare in advance, only enduring being repeatedly launched. Masters naturally didn’t mind, but those with lower martial arts inevitably suffered.

Yang Yixiu and Tian Wu were above, watching the battle below with great anxiety. However, their martial arts were mediocre, and Tie Ci had already instructed them not to join the battle.

Tie Ci had brought them on this mission precisely to give them experience and achievements for future merit evaluation and to become capable subordinates early on. But deep down, she didn’t intend for them to take risks. After all, Tian Wu still had vast family business to inherit, and if something happened to Yang Yixiu, Minister Yang would fight her desperately.

Tian Wu was muddle-headed and didn’t quite understand these things, but Yang Yixiu had brains.

He kept pushing Tian Wu. Tian Wu said: “What are you doing? The Crown Princess won’t let us go down.”

“The Crown Princess won’t let us go down, so we don’t go down? When it’s time to claim credit later, if the Crown Princess lets us claim it, would you have the face to do so?” Yang Yixiu glared at Tian Wu. “Silly big fellow, let me ask you—are you determined to follow the Crown Princess?”

Tian Wu chuckled: “Naturally. Our Tian family has money but no power and has suffered countless losses. Now I’ve finally found a patron. My father will be delighted to know.”

“Haven’t you considered she might be a puppet for life, that your patron isn’t reliable?”

“I haven’t thought about it. I think someone like the Crown Princess won’t be a puppet. Anyone might become a puppet, but not her.”

“Then you need to think clearly about what you should and can do. If we truly depend entirely on the Crown Princess’s support to advance, then someday we’ll fall behind her.” Yang Yixiu lifted his chin. “By then, even if the Crown Princess still remembers old feelings, countless people will want to push us down from the heights. Virtue not matching position is a terrifying thing.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“I plan to convince my father to be a spy and sell out Ciren Palace completely.”

Tian Wu nodded sincerely: “Ambitious!”

“Learn from this!”

“I can’t learn this.” Tian Wu chuckled. “But before coming to Western Rong, I went to Yong Ping town and entrusted our shop manager there to send word home, bringing money and the best beef jerky. Our Tian family started by selling beef, and our most famous Five-Grain Beef is actually medicinal beef. The beef jerky made from it is processed with medicine and can cure many illnesses.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so thoughtful, you little rascal. Now I’m relieved. But what do you want money for?”

“The Crown Princess came to Yong Ping wanting military authority, right? Yong Ping garrison military funds are often insufficient, right? As long as Commander Di is willing to submit to the Crown Princess, I’ll donate money to Yong Ping’s army—money, winter clothes, money for making weapons! I want her to get so much money her hands go soft and she can’t do without me, Old Tian!”

“Ambitious!” Yang Yixiu laughed heartily. “Silly big fellow, you’re not silly at all.”

Tian Wu said in a thin voice: “Could the Crown Princess really choose someone truly silly?”

He picked up a rope from the ground, made a loop, and swung it out with a whoosh.

“Watch my specialty!”

The rope loop precisely caught a person just as he was launched by a sand pillar. The moment the pillar disappeared, the loop arrived.

Tian Wu jerked with force, pulling that person over like a kite with a broken string.

Tian Wu was overjoyed: “Look, I saved someone!”

Yang Yixiu praised: “Fat Tiger, you’re amazing! Great skill concealed in clumsiness. Big brother will protect you from now on!”

Tian Wu: “Hahaha, I raised many cattle as a child and got used to lassoing them. The man who lassos cattle is mighty and strong…”

With a “whoosh,” the lassoed person flew over, just hearing the last sentence, his face darkened.

Tian Wu looked up.

The one lassoed was Feiyu.

The next instant, he screamed and dropped the rope, covering his head and fleeing.

Looking again, Yang Yixiu had run even faster than him.

Tian Wu cried indignantly: “Big brother, didn’t you say you’d protect me!”

Yang Yixiu: “Big brother is now giving you your first court lesson for future adaptation—share blessings together but never share troubles, better a dead friend than a dead poor man…”

…

Tie Ci had no idea about the farce on the slope or that her future subordinates had already accomplished great things while joking around. She was concentrating on dealing with those elusive sand pillars.

During this, she glanced at Feiyu, wondering how he had flown up there when he said they should find Chen Tuntian first.

She soon found the trick—whenever sand pillars shot up, she’d rush to the center bottom of the pillar and strike.

That was roughly the sand eye’s location. One strike, though it couldn’t hurt anyone, could make the sand pillar disappear.

For a while, it was rise-rise-rise, stab-stab-stab, like playing whack-a-mole.

But that old monster never came out.

The sand pit’s area was extremely large.

Tie Ci concentrated her vision but could only see flowing sand, making it difficult to track the movements below.

She called: “Da Wu, Xiao Wu!”

The two had been hiding behind sand dune fires, answering in unison but saying nothing.

Da Wu closed his eyes while Xiao Wu kept twitching his nose.

People in the pit gradually gathered together—partly because with more people, sand pillars caused limited damage, and partly to avoid individuals being easily launched skyward by sudden pillars.

But Tie Ci suddenly thought of a possibility and called out: “Scatter!”

At the same time, Feiyu and Rong Pu above also said: “Don’t cluster!”

Before the words finished, everyone heard a cold laugh, then felt the ground give way beneath their feet.

The sand pit suddenly collapsed inward from the center.

Like invisible giant force punching down from the sky, the center sank while the sides overflowed. The overflowing endless sand extinguished the circle of fires.

Strong wind rose, scattering the fishy scent.

All around immediately became pitch black.

Heaven and earth became a great bowl, with everyone sliding toward the bowl’s center.

Tie Ci suddenly heard rustling, chattering fine sounds.

At the same time, Da Wu and Xiao Wu shouted from above: “Right under your feet!”

Xiao Wu added: “…Northwest direction, three parts!”

Tie Ci looked down, her jade brush shooting downward like lightning.

Feiyu swept out.

A light hissing sound, like something being pierced. In the darkness, something even darker gushed out rapidly, and that rustling chatter grew louder.

Tie Ci felt the jade brush tremble. In this instant, countless tiny things seemed to climb up.

Those things also climbed onto her boots.

With a whoosh, firelight blazed again. This time she saw clearly—scorpions.

More scorpions than last time, like black poisonous liquid flowing from underground, endlessly emerging from where her jade brush had penetrated.

As if all the world’s scorpions had nested here, and she had punctured the nest.

Low damage, extremely disgusting.

The moment Tie Ci felt the jade brush grow heavy, she leaped up, shaking off countless scorpions. As for those climbing on her body, she didn’t need to worry—they were directly cut apart by the steel wire in her vest.

Fortunately, everyone was prepared, having all seen scorpions before. Hands and feet were already wrapped, but they couldn’t escape the sand pit—because there were scorpions below, and as massive scorpions crawled out, the pit kept collapsing. Everyone couldn’t fight gravity and kept sliding down, while sand from above rolled down relentlessly, bound to bury them all in this scorpion sand pit.

Continuous hissing sounds as several fire lines descended along the sand pit from four directions, with scorpions retreating wherever they passed.

Several ropes were thrown down. Those above gripped the ropes tightly while those below climbed up along the cleared fire paths.

Suddenly a figure flew backward. Tie Ci raised her hand to catch him—it was Feiyu.

She was startled, asking: “Are you hurt?”

Feiyu shook his head: “This old thing has deep internal power, impervious to blades and spears, and very hard to get close to…”

He lifted his chin. Tie Ci looked up to see a distant figure.

That person stood suspended above the sand pit, black cloak fluttering in the wind, though there was no wind at the moment.

Looking carefully, she saw he wasn’t actually suspended—there was sand and scorpions under his feet, and his body was densely covered with crawling scorpions. Those living scorpions crawled all over him, and from a distance it looked like a restlessly moving black robe.

Occasionally, gaps between scorpions revealed bronze-colored, metallic-textured skin. Under this scorpion battle robe, this fellow might be wearing nothing at all.

Such a sight made one’s scalp tingle just looking at it, let alone fighting face-to-face. With him charging around in a scorpion cloak, one bite from them would be the end.

Unconvinced, Qi Yuansi threw a scorpion from far away. Everyone watched as the scorpion entered the wind and sand then suddenly disappeared.

Someone else wanted to throw their weapons, but Tie Ci grabbed them.

Feiyu spat out sand and said gloomily: “This old scorpion—fight if you want to fight, but constantly summoning sand to stuff people’s mouths and noses!”

Everyone imagined fine sand blocking their mouths and noses during battle and felt even worse.

Tie Ci asked: “Does he shake?”

Feiyu said: “At first glance you’d think the scorpions were shaking, but looking again, he’s shaking.”

Tie Ci glanced at that ceaselessly writhing scorpion cloak and said: “Retreat first!”

Everyone withdrew as ordered. The old monster didn’t pursue, clearly also wanting to heal his wounds properly.

His shaking figure slowly sank into the sand.

Everyone stood on high ground, watching those black scorpion torrents flow backward into the sand pit like devil’s poisonous sand being returned to its magic bottle. The pit was slowly filled, golden sand gently flowing again, covering everything below. The ground finally bulged once violently then returned to calm. Wind blew, leaving no trace.

The desert was flat as before.

Those poisonous creatures, killing intent, old monster—as if they had never appeared.

Everyone felt chilled to the bone.

There were still such people in the world, such methods.

With such a person’s shadow looming over the desert, who could ever get out?

Tie Ci returned defeated but remained calm. After walking some distance with everyone, she asked Rong Pu: “Did it work?”

Rong Pu said: “It worked.”