Feng Huan wailed and cried, crawled up wiping his tears, wanted to follow them, but felt it somehow wasn’t appropriate. Turning his head, he saw A’Ji hurrying over. Seeing the devastation in the cemetery, her face immediately changed.

She shuttled between the grave mounds, kicking away the scorpions and spiders, shouting, “Sausage Brother! Sausage Brother!”

Feng Huan crawled up covered in dirt and dust, angrily saying, “I told you my surname is Feng! I’m a marquis family’s son! I’m not called Sausage!”

Seeing him, A’Ji laughed. Two pig dragons squatted dog-like beside her. She patted one’s head, saying, “Go help Sausage Brother up. Look, he can’t even walk properly.”

Feng Huan screamed, “No no no, I can walk! I don’t want to ride a pig dragon—”

The two people supporting each other ahead both smiled.

The two of them simply returned to the wooden tower where Murong Yi had been treated. The empty room had all its bedding smashed out by Duanmu, leaving only a painting desk. Many paintings hung on the four walls, also unbroken, showing that Duanmu really loved painting. Murong Yi said, “Did you see these ghostly scribbles he painted? He said to look at the paintings if I wanted to detoxify, but I think compared to looking at these paintings, it’s better not to detoxify at all.”

Tie Ci looked back and her eyes were assaulted. She felt that looking at such paintings too much might make the poison activate early.

Murong Yi had originally slept on the ground. When Duanmu left, he threw the things from the painting desk to the floor and slept on the desk. But now he was unwilling to let Tie Ci sleep on the ice-cold, hard painting desk, so he went out for a while. After a moment, he not only brought back quilts, but also some medicines, fruits, and dried meat.

Tie Ci was somewhat surprised. The people in this stronghold all seemed influenced by Duanmu—appearing innocent but actually cruel and indifferent. When had they become so kind-hearted?

Could it be that someone was using his face to open doors?

Her glance had just shifted over when Murong Yi knew what she was thinking. Smiling and shaking his head, he lifted the cloth on his face to show her a little, then quickly covered it again, saying, “It’s better not to affect my beauty in your heart.”

Tie Ci had been looking for who knows how long and never cared. Smiling, she said, “The Love-Union Butterfly making you ugly only proves your incomparably perfect, peerless beauty?”

Murong Yi scoffed and wanted to help her treat her wounds, but was pushed away by Tie Ci, “Your poison reportedly isn’t completely cleared yet. Stay away from me, don’t transmit it to me.”

Murong Yi looked at her. Tie Ci’s wounds, large and small, were really too numerous—arrow grazes, glass shard punctures, and even more from frostbite, burns, impact injuries…

Not letting him approach was just because she didn’t want him to see how arduously and extraordinarily she had struggled for him.

He didn’t insist, turning his back to let Tie Ci handle it herself. Tie Ci used up an entire bottle of wound medicine before simply treating those injuries. Not hearing Murong Yi’s voice, she turned back to see him supporting his forehead with his hand, long eyelashes casting thin shadows under his eyes, looking as if he had fallen asleep.

But he wouldn’t sleep at such a time. Tie Ci checked his pulse and sighed.

Indeed, the poison was not yet cleared. Forcing himself out to dig someone’s grave and help her block Duanmu’s angry strike—how could he be well?

Since that was the case, better not get too close for now. Wait until he was completely recovered.

She wrapped Murong Yi well in a cotton quilt, only then having time to look at the paintings on the four walls.

She had expected to see some masterful brush work, but unexpectedly saw a soul artist instead.

The bold use of color and abstract brushwork in the paintings could be called supernatural craftsmanship, so much so that after looking for a long time, her gaze remained confused.

Suddenly Duanmu’s voice came from outside, “Do you understand what you’re seeing?”

Tie Ci stared at the first painting, puzzled, “Is it depicting opera singing?”

Outside the wooden tower, silence fell for a while. After a moment, Duanmu said, “It’s escape!”

Tie Ci looked more carefully and only then saw this wasn’t opera but battle. The battle seemed to take place in a rather magnificent city, with pavilions and towers everywhere. In the first painting, several barely recognizable human figures were flying in the air. On top of a tall building, someone stood behind some kind of device, apparently watching those people.

For the second painting, Tie Ci said, “It’s at sea!”

Duanmu made a satisfied “Hmm” sound.

“Are they fishing at sea? Is that big chunk a shark? Doesn’t really look like one—sharks don’t have such square heads.”

Duanmu’s voice sounded somewhat gloomy, “That’s a strange ship! It rammed and broke their ship!”

Tie Ci made an “Oh” sound, only then understanding.

This painting changed scenes to nighttime. On the great sea, thick clouds covered the sky. From beneath the layers of clouds, a bolt of lightning extended, electric light flashing at a man’s fingertips. The man stood on a ship with a woman on each side. Behind the three, waves rose several zhang high. At the crest of the giant waves, a ship of strange design appeared ghost-like, ramming crosswise into the man’s ship.

All around, ice and snow burst forth, fierce fire crisscrossed, and strange phenomena arose on the ink-colored sea.

After looking at two paintings and understanding Duanmu’s peculiar painting style, she could actually understand the later paintings. The next one changed scenery again—on golden yellow desert, someone was wrapped in a tornado, fleeing in panic. Not far behind him, on the flat fine sand, a vehicle with a flat bottom and strange appearance was chasing him. Long, thin tubes extended from the front of the vehicle, and above it a lid was open with a person leaning out half their body, placing a strange two-holed object before their eyes.

The next one showed a black-robed elder standing on a withered tree, seeming to want to open a black bag in his hands, but thick rolling smoke was spouting from the mountain forest around him. The elder’s expression was violent yet tears streamed down his face.

Tie Ci stared at these paintings. The more she looked, the colder her whole body became, with endless chill rising from her heart, her entire back numb.

The next one showed steps towering into the clouds. On the steps, a man and woman were about to kick open palace gates, but behind them a brilliant large flower was blooming.

The next showed a deep mansion compound. The wall of a grand hall had a huge hole, half collapsed. Countless people were running about in panic. A man was being carried out on a rattan stretcher, his lower body bloody, still clutching a medicine box in his hands.

The next showed a person walking in the wilderness. High above in the clouds overhead, something vaguely extended a line. A black object was falling from the heights.

The last one showed orderly streets extending endlessly. A ray of light flew from one end of the street to the other.

Besides this, in this image there were no people or any other scenes—just this ray of light, sharp and straight, crossing vast distances, carrying infinite killing intent. Though its destination was unknown, it inspired terror.

This was also the best painted, clearest, and most detailed image.

Tie Ci stared at that ray of light. So far, so far—this light crossing such a long distance, where was it going?

She didn’t know why, but though she had clearly never seen any of the strange things in these pictures, she felt tremendous fear rising in her heart, like seeing some of fate’s most terrible prophecies written on old paper—once opened, earth-shattering.

Duanmu said from outside, “You have Chi Fengqi’s internal energy. You’ve at least met the Guihai couple. Do you see the second painting? Can you recognize them?”

Tie Ci thought to herself, with your painting skills, even if the Guihai couple stood right there for comparison, they couldn’t be recognized.

She was silent for a while, then said, “Are these… the Three Madmen and Five Emperors?”

Outside, Duanmu was silent for a moment, then smiled gently but coldly, “That title sounds so strange to hear now.”

“These are them… at the moment of attack?”

Another silence, then Duanmu said, “Yes. The fate of these eight people within just a few days.”

“Guihai Sheng and his wife and Xuan Qiong were knocked into the sea by a strange ship; Chen Tuntian was pursued in the desert; Poison Madman’s poison was useless, and he was instead made to cry by smoke; Medical Madman had his legs broken… As for the others, I can’t distinguish them clearly.”

Duanmu slowly said, “The one walking in the wilderness is me. The other three…” He paused before saying, “That man and woman were fellow disciples, brother and sister, who died under a strange and powerful weapon. One explosive sound, a giant flower bloomed, and they were blown to pieces. As for the last image… that ray of light, I saw with my own eyes how it suddenly appeared, instantly crossing several li, shooting into… his back.” His voice suddenly lowered, “If only I had met you earlier… if only I had met you earlier…”

These words sounded ambiguous, but Tie Ci immediately understood his meaning. He meant if he had met her earlier and copied the teleportation technique, he might have been able to catch up to that ray of light and save his good friend.

But Tie Ci knew this was impossible.

Her teleportation also couldn’t cross such vast distances like that ray of light.

She had personally experienced the combat power of the Three Madmen and Five Emperors. When she encountered them, they had all been in retirement for years with old injuries, not in their prime. Even so, she was no match for the Guihai couple and struggled greatly to defeat Chen Tuntian.

Yet someone or some group, using extremely powerful and terrifying weapons, had within just a few days either killed or wounded the Three Madmen and Five Emperors in their prime, forcing them to retreat and rarely dare step out of their lairs.

How could such people exist in the world?

And where did these things that had never appeared in the world come from?

Some could even fly in the sky?

“What was that thing you saw in the clouds in the wilderness?”

“I don’t know. But I can confirm it definitely wasn’t a bird. It was much larger than birds, could carry people, and would drop huge eggs. Those eggs could blast a big crater when they hit the ground, much more powerful than our gunpowder bombs. I had just acquired an invisibility ability then, but this flying monster could actually see through my invisibility. So I was also injured then, saved by the previous Mo tribe chief, which is why I stayed and became everyone’s Uncle.”

Tie Ci drew a breath.

“I personally experienced the terror of those weapons, saw with my own eyes that light shoot into his back, saw him fall from the greatest height, bleeding out completely.” Duanmu said calmly, “Now you tell me he’s not dead—how can you make me believe you? If he’s not dead, why hasn’t he come to find me? Where has he been all these years? And who could have saved him in that situation?”

Countless thoughts flowed through Tie Ci’s mind, but she finally gave up asking Duanmu for the other person’s name.

Though Duanmu’s tone was bland, his emotions were very unstable. If she wasn’t even certain of the other person’s name, it would sound like she was toying with him again to Duanmu’s ears. Once enraged, she and Murong Yi would never be able to withstand it again this time.

She only said, “I can’t answer your question now, but as long as you help me, I will definitely give you an answer when I return.”

She said, “Since you’ve accepted even the worst outcome, since in your heart you’ve actually been waiting for him all along, having waited all these years, do you care about waiting a few more months?”

Silence outside, then after a long while Duanmu said quietly, “The Mo tribe made an agreement with humans. Your request is asking us to break our oath. So we can help you, but even if we find him in the future, the life-for-life promise you made still cannot be canceled.”

Tie Ci thought to herself, as expected.

The Mo tribe should originally be her enemy, which was why her plea for help was so difficult.

She said, “What I promise, my word is as good as gold.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t value her life, but the former could still be worked around, while Yannan was clearly more difficult and powerful than she had imagined. If she couldn’t take Yannan at the fastest speed, it would inevitably become a tumor for Great Qian, possibly even more destructive than Liaodong. After all, Liaodong was too far from Great Qian’s heartland, but Yannan could go upstream and reach the capital in seven days of forced march.

Moreover, poison was too broadly and extensively destructive.

The Mo tribe must be used by her to avoid being used by others.

Duanmu was quiet for a while, then said, “One last question.”

“Please ask.”

“That grave doesn’t even have a tombstone. How did you know who I was commemorating? And how did you know I… cared deeply about him?”

Tie Ci walked to the window. She couldn’t see Duanmu’s face clearly, only seeing that solitary lamp with its pale blue light outlining his tall, thin shadow on the silver-spilled ground.

It made one feel inexplicably desolate.

She sighed softly, “Because of dogs.”

Duanmu looked up at her in amazement.

“There are no dogs in the stronghold. You dislike dogs very much. Why do you dislike them?”

Duanmu was silent.

Tie Ci also said nothing.

It was because someone he cared deeply about had been injured by canine teeth and deeply harmed by them.

Because of such harm, he never again allowed dogs to appear in his sight—such isolated and deep caring.

Outside, Duanmu didn’t ask further, saying, “You leave tomorrow. For what needs to be done, give your instructions to A’Ji.”

Tie Ci leaned against the window, “You must continue treating my friend’s poison.”

Duanmu turned his back to her, raising his hand. The orchid mantis on his finger also raised its front limbs, “Just follow the doctor’s orders.”

He disappeared into the depths of darkness, his back forlorn.

Tie Ci listened in bewilderment. What doctor’s orders? Murong Yi said the only medical instruction was to look at paintings.

She could only leave a note, writing “Look at the paintings well” for Murong Yi. Seeing he was still deep in sleep, presumably under the effect of medicine, she didn’t wake him and quietly went downstairs.

She also didn’t plan to take Feng Huan. Anyway, A’Ji wouldn’t let him suffer losses, and staying here would also help protect Murong Yi.

Walking through the dark fields, a snake approached by the roadside, with something root-like on its head.

Tie Ci took it, patted the snake’s head. The snake flicked its tongue and swam back into the grass, disappearing.

Tie Ci casually threw the root into her mouth and chewed. The taste wasn’t bad, quite sweet and refreshing.

After eating, most of the dull aches and fatigue throughout her body also disappeared.

She continued forward, encountering an owl carrying flowers, mice bringing fruit, centipedes coiled head-to-tail around grass leaves… Tie Ci collected as she walked, while the wooden towers around remained silent.

Following the terraced fields upward to the peak forest entrance, A’Kou was still waiting for her with the boat. Seeing her, he adjusted his glasses and smiled shyly, “Uncle asked me to send you out.”

This time the small boat turned and twisted through the peak forest without encountering any obstacles. On tree houses outside the peak forest, young men and women leaned down curiously to look at her.

This was the first person to successfully seek medical treatment at the stronghold.

Before the stone wall ahead, Tie Ci handed A’Kou a letter, saying, “Everything I need the Mo tribe to help me with is written here. Remember to remind your Uncle to keep his promise.”

But A’Kou handed the letter to a youth who had followed, saying, “Give it to A’Ji.” He smiled at Tie Ci and picked up his bundle, “When you’re in Yannan, Uncle wants me to follow you.”

This was naturally perfect. Tie Ci gladly agreed.

The giant python moved along the stone wall, which slowly opened. Tie Ci stepped out of the stone wall. The mountain valley before her no longer showed the corpses of poisonous insects covering the mountains and fields. On the open ground by the water pool ahead, people were sleeping scattered about.

But they slept in distinct groups—one side had seven or eight people, the other side only two.

Hearing movement from this direction, people from both sides sat up with a start. One person called out joyfully, “Master!”

But someone on the other side kicked their companion. A slightly rough female voice said impatiently, “What are you kicking for? Can’t even let this old lady sleep peacefully!” She turned and sat up. Seeing only Tie Ci and a young girl come out, her gaze immediately turned cold.