Because of this thought, she stayed for several more days. After three days, her throat could speak again, her eyes gradually became clear, and her old injuries had healed considerably.

During these days, she constantly tried to recall what had happened in the fire scene last time. She had suddenly appeared in the water, then suddenly returned to the fire scene. This ability seemed somewhat like teleportation, similar to the innate talent that the queen of a certain country from the previous dynasty had possessed in her memories.

But despite countless attempts, she could never recreate that effect, nor did she know which acupoint had suddenly opened during that critical moment to create such a miracle.

Feiyu was also in no hurry to leave, wandering around the village all day long, secretly learning who knows how many skills.

Tie Ci envied this but had no desire to emulate it. Her martial arts were very strong, but her talent for practicing martial arts wasn’t top-tier, supposedly due to injuries sustained in the womb.

She had achieved her current strength through relentless bitter practice—sleeping only two hours a night, continuing to practice even when her wrists and ankles swelled up, applying medicine and continuing the grueling training. She lacked the kind of martial arts prodigy talent that Feiyu possessed, where seeing something once would give a general understanding, and seeing it twice would reveal its essence.

After several days of recuperating, one day Tie Ci was sitting in front of the house helping Dongde’s wife shell beans when she suddenly felt something flash in her eyes. She turned her head to look around, but nothing seemed unusual.

Tie Ci remained calm and continued shelling beans. After finishing, she carried the beans and small stool back inside.

On the cliff opposite the small village, Murong Duan lowered the telescope in his hands, his face dark as he gazed down at the village below.

Those two were both staying in the village, yet he could no longer approach even one step closer. That night’s rain attack had resulted in heavy losses, and now he had only a few people left by his side.

But like a gambler, the heavier the losses, the more he wanted to recoup them. Having reached this point, he no longer even had the possibility of safely returning to Liaodong, so he absolutely had to capture these two people—cut off the man’s head to present to the great king to vent his anger, and capture the woman for severe interrogation to force out the whereabouts of those forty percent yuan iron weapons.

He was waiting, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Murong Duan had been living rough in these mountains for many days now, looking like a wild man with tangled, matted hair, his eyes deeply sunken in their sockets, burning like ghostly flames.

He watched Feiyu playing cards with the villagers, watched Tie Ci going in and out of houses, helping with chores and then visiting neighbors, sometimes going with others to chop wood and hunt in the nearby mountain forests.

Murong Duan had been watching from the mountain for several days. This day, sitting in front of the cave, he pondered for a while, then gave quiet instructions to his followers. The men nodded and disappeared into the depths of the mountain forest.

The next morning, Tie Ci again went up the mountain with Dongde to chop wood.

They took the same mountain path as last time. Tie Ci walked and chopped as she went, then suddenly stopped and picked up a strip of cloth from a thicket of thorns.

It was obviously torn from clothing—the fabric was a type of heavy brocade called flowing light, with three-colored flowing silk that gleamed darkly and luxuriously. Because the material was thick and heavy with a draping quality, it was often favored by northern nobility.

There was no one in this area who could afford to wear such fabric.

Moreover, the cloth was stained with blood, and even had some pus and blood on it, clearly indicating that the owner of the clothing was injured and the wound had become infected and deteriorated.

After examining it, Tie Ci looked around in all directions, then walked forward a bit more. After a while, she discovered a pure gold button in the grass.

Following the direction of this path, she looked toward the opposite cliff. That cliff wasn’t high and was connected to this side by only an iron chain. Ordinary people couldn’t cross it—it used to be a place where people from Lingquan Village often practiced their footwork.

Tie Ci asked Dongde what mountain the opposite cliff was and whether people still went there frequently nowadays.

Dongde said that place used to grow some extremely rare medicinal herbs, so everyone had strung up an iron chain to cross over and gather medicine. Later, because water flows converged there and mist permeated the area with year-round clouds and haze, the medicinal herbs gradually stopped growing, and people gradually stopped going there as well.

That mountain peak now had water dripping from its cliff face all day long, making it damp and unbearable. The cliff face was also extremely smooth and difficult to climb, so no one liked to go there.

Tie Ci looked at the mountain’s position—it seemed to face directly toward the small village below.

She looked down at the iron chain and could vaguely see some friction marks.

Retracing her steps along that mountain path, she discovered that not a single stalk of the various blood-stanching and decay-removing medicinal herbs that commonly grew in the grass along the way remained. Some root stems showed signs of having been freshly broken.

Dongde finished chopping wood and called for Tie Ci to go down the mountain together.

The mountain wilderness was quietly still.

In the mountains, darkness fell early. By dusk, the entire small village had lit its lamps—points of light reflecting the stars filling the sky, while the shadows of trees and mountains overlapped on the mountain paths.

Two human figures rapidly spiraled up the mountain path.

At the other end of the mountain path, on the low cliff, in the mist-filled cave, Murong Duan raised his telescope and watched the two figures gradually approaching, smiling coldly.

To lure the enemy, he had already stayed in this cave for two days. The humidity here was so great that it was utterly unsuitable for human habitation. In just two days, his entire body had broken out in red rashes, his feet had rotted, and he was in pain and itching all over. He had scratched several places raw, and on top of that, he was frozen stiff all over, his face pale and bluish.

Yet he endured it.

After getting through tonight, all would be well.

The two figures approached quickly, stopping at the iron chain after a moment.

Murong Duan could see clearly—it was indeed those two mortal enemies.

Tie Ci and Feiyu stopped beside the iron chain. Tie Ci crouched down, grabbed one end of the iron chain, and gave it a vigorous shake.

The thick-as-an-arm iron chain rolled and moved forward like waves, the clanging sounds penetrating from one end of the cliff to the other.

Tie Ci released her grip and nodded. “It’s fine. There’s no problem with the iron chain on that end.”

Feiyu crouched down and lit a fire stick. Tie Ci lit a long vine, then with a flick, the vine wound around the iron chain with a whooshing sound, creating a thin deep red line of fire in the mist and night. But soon, that line of fire went out.

“No oil poured on it either,” Feiyu said. “Just be careful and we’ll be fine.”

Across the way, Murong Duan watched from afar, a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

Two very cautious people, but tampering with such an obvious iron chain would make him too stupid.

Tie Ci said, “I’ll go over first to take a look. You stay here and provide cover for me.”

Feiyu no longer concealed her martial arts abilities in front of Tie Ci—after all, this couldn’t be hidden, so it was better to show some trusting understanding. Tie Ci reciprocated this trust. Although she still observed and assessed Feiyu, she didn’t ask many questions.

After all, the two had shared hardships together, and Feiyu had helped her several times. In daily life, Feiyu never pried into her affairs either.

Since they could trust each other, and since the other party didn’t want to talk, there naturally were reasons for not talking. Why force someone into difficulty?

There was also no need for secret investigation, as that would only hurt their mutual affection.

But Feiyu said, “If we’re going, let’s go together.”

The two crossed the iron chain one after the other, each holding vines in their hands for convenience in throwing out to grab hold of something if they slipped.

The two safely crossed the iron chain. Ahead was a path that hugged the cliff face, carved out by the villagers before. It was very narrow, with narrow crevices in the mountain wall housing some crudely carved statues with bizarre faces—no one knew from which dynasty or which people’s worship these came.

Two men dressed as guards were leaning against the mountain wall eating dry rations. One had his head wrapped in white cloth, the other had his arm in a sling—both were obviously injured.

When these two discovered that two people had suddenly emerged silently from the mist, they were so startled that they leaped up and fled by climbing the cliff without looking back.

Tie Ci and Feiyu didn’t want to alert their quarry, so they didn’t pursue. They continued forward along the mountain path, where the ground was covered with slippery moss that gradually dampened the soles of their shoes.

Soon they smelled a heavy medicinal odor. Turning a corner, they saw a cliff crevice where the original statue had been knocked over to one side. Murong Duan occupied the statue’s position, with his back to them, curled up in the cliff crevice sleeping.

Hearing the sound of someone approaching, he alertly turned his head. In the night, that face was pale and wan, but his eyebrows and eyes curved in a smile even more eerie than the statue’s.

Both Tie Ci and Feiyu were people who had weathered many storms. Seeing this, they immediately knew something was wrong and turned to leave.

At this moment, the “statue” that had fallen to one side suddenly reached out and tugged at the ground. With a twang, those mottled mosses and vines sprang up with a whoosh, forming a green net that trapped their ankles.

Tie Ci swung her blade to cut them, but the statue on the ground tugged again, tightening the vines. Tie Ci’s blade was about to strike Feiyu’s ankle, so she had to forcibly pull it back.

After the fake statue pulled up the vines, it rolled toward the mountain path below, using its own weight to tighten the vines. The pulling force made it impossible for Tie Ci and Feiyu to maintain their balance. With their feet bound together, they rolled into the cliff crevice.

At this time, Murong Duan had already sprung up and drew his blade to strike at Feiyu. With a clang, Tie Ci whipped out the wood-chopping knife from her waist, knocking away Murong Duan’s blade. Her other hand reached to grab the cliff crevice, trying to stand up, but all the plants in the cliff crevice had been cut away, and the cliff face had been smoothed—it was slippery with nothing to grab onto.

Rather than attempting another attack after missing his first strike, Murong Duan leaped forward, picked up the other end of the vine net from the ground, and quickly ran forward several steps.

This cliff crevice naturally sloped downward, and the ground had been smoothed as well, so Tie Ci and Feiyu were dragged by him, sliding forward with whooshing sounds. In the rushing wind, they suddenly saw Murong Duan brake hard, then flip over onto the cliff wall above.

Meanwhile, Tie Ci and Feiyu’s momentum hadn’t stopped and they continued sliding forward. They felt a brightness before their eyes, their bodies tilted, water splashed and poured over their heads from above, and their bodies slid downward even faster.

This cliff crevice was actually connected through to the other side! After being carved through, it led to another cliff face where a small waterfall ran day and night. The cliff face had been polished smooth as a slanted mirror by the water. Tie Ci and Feiyu flew out from the cliff crevice, rushed into the waterfall, and slid rapidly down the cliff face.

At the bottom of the cliff, in the pool beneath the waterfall, directly in the path where the two would fall, a large stone as smooth as a screen had already been pushed into position.

Murong Duan stood on the pre-carved footholds above the cliff crevice, turned to look down, watching as those two slid inexorably toward that death stone. He could already envision the beautiful scene of red and white splattering in the next instant. All his recent frustrations swept away, and he couldn’t help but burst into wild laughter.

But in the next moment, his laughter stopped abruptly.

Feiyu’s waist trembled, and suddenly a rope with an iron hook flew out from behind her. The rope passed through the rushing waterfall and clanged as it caught on the cliff wall. The two figures’ rapid descent instantly stopped.

At the same time, Tie Ci raised her head and flicked her finger, shooting a pebble toward Murong Duan’s wide-open mouth. He dodged by turning his head, but this was just a feint—another pebble followed closely, striking his knee bend.

Murong Duan’s leg gave way and he tumbled headfirst down, rolling and falling along the cliff face. This time it was his turn to roll all the way down. In his spinning, dizzy glimpse, he saw those two sitting on the cliff face, waving at him in unison.

In that moment, Murong Duan had no time for resentment, only feeling grateful that the side he was falling toward didn’t face that big stone—he would only slide into the pool water and could quickly swim to shore, still having time to escape.

The next instant, with a thud, he landed in something that wasn’t the cool pool water he’d imagined, nor did waterfall spray splash up.

Something soft and thick beneath him seemed to support him with considerable elasticity.

Murong Duan quickly opened his eyes and found himself staring into a dark, plump face.

A’Hei, the fat girl from Lingquan Village who was always chasing after Feiyu, stared at the beautiful man who had fallen from heaven into her arms, laughing so hard that all her muscles shook. “Haha, this little fellow is not bad!”

She nodded toward the people above, saying with satisfaction, “Thank you for calling me to come bathe at this hour!”

Feiyu poked her head out from above and called down, “How is it? Does he meet your requirements? Fair face, slim waist, long legs, thick chest muscles—a genuine little pretty boy who could grace a parlor or warm a bed!”

The eighteen princes of the Liaodong royal family were like eighteen flowers—otherwise they wouldn’t have been presented to the Imperial Princess. Regardless of Murong Duan’s character, his looks and physique were naturally of the finest quality.

A’Hei was someone with strong instincts, and her instincts had created a mysterious attraction to Feiyu. Clearly she liked Feiyu’s type, regardless of gender, so Murong Duan naturally suited her taste.

A’Hei smiled as she hefted Murong Duan up and down, like weighing a piece of meat to express her satisfied delight.

Murong Duan was greatly alarmed and thrust his waist upward, trying to spring up, but A’Hei flipped her arm and he crashed face-down into the pool water with a splash.

He reached for his blade, but A’Hei lifted her big foot and stepped on his back. He felt as if three great mountains were pressing down on him, and no matter how he struggled, he couldn’t get up.

Murong Duan struggled painfully in the shallow pool water like a turtle with its shell pressed down. His head gradually released strings of crystal bubbles, and just as he was about to suffocate, A’Hei finally lifted her foot, grabbed him from the water, brought him close to her nose, and planted a mouth-to-mouth kiss on him.

Murong Duan had just emerged from the water and was desperately trying to breathe, but instead he inhaled that kiss—a reek of garlic rushed into his oral cavity. The precious prince had never experienced anything like this and nearly fainted from nausea.

But A’Hei was quite satisfied. Smiling, she slung him over her back, waved to those above, and hurried home, eager to savor her little pretty boy.