Lou Mingyue said, “I’ve only heard my mother mention it once. They take orders directly from the Emperor’s shadow.”

While outsiders had at least heard of the Konghejia Army, this deeply hidden shadow force was unknown even to most within Konghejia. Lou Mingyue only knew of it due to her position as the Lou family head.

“Heh,” Lou Mingyue clutched the jade piece tightly, laughing self-mockingly.

She didn’t want to become a Dragon Guard. Not only did she disdain working for the Emperor, but more importantly, her sole purpose for joining Konghejia was to one day kill Yelü Huangwu with her own hands. Who knew what duties being a Dragon Guard would entail?

“Let’s go, someone’s coming,” An Jiu said.

Lou Mingyue nodded and led An Jiu to the kitchen.

The kitchen hearth still burned, but no one was in sight. As An Jiu looked around, Lou Mingyue said, “There’s no ambush here, but food is limited. Some of it is poisonous. They won’t deliberately poison us, but they’ve used some toxic ingredients in cooking.”

Recently, Qiu Yunran had been pestering Lou Mingyue. With her skills, she could easily drive him away or even kill him, but she hadn’t. She wanted to learn from him during their daily food retrieval, as knowing more about poisons was beneficial for people like them.

An Jiu surveyed the stovetop. There was porridge, flatbread, and various dishes, almost all mixing meat and vegetables. An Jiu had learned about wilderness survival, but American plants differed from those here. She might not even recognize these herbs whole, let alone cooked like this.

Without hesitation, An Jiu broke open a flatbread and sniffed it. Detecting nothing unusual, she took seven or eight pieces.

Lou Mingyue had already selected a few dishes. Turning back, she saw half the flatbread gone and couldn’t help but smile, taking the rest.

Needing something to drink, An Jiu’s gaze wavered between a pot of soup with unidentifiable contents and white porridge. She chose the white porridge.

“Wait,” Lou Mingyue stepped forward to smell it. “This porridge contains a sedative. Let’s take the snake soup instead.”

An Jiu stirred the snake soup with chopsticks. “The snake meat is too finely chopped to detect poison.”

The meat was so minced it was unrecognizable, and the soup contained many unknown seasonings. An Jiu preferred simpler foods.

“You two are early,” Qiu Yunran entered, his eyes lighting up at the snake soup. “This is nutritious. If you don’t want it, may I have it?”

Even with Qiu Yunran’s assurance, Lou Mingyue and An Jiu wouldn’t trust it was truly unpoisoned.

Lou Mingyue still had some water in her flask, enough to last until tomorrow, so she didn’t take the snake soup. An Jiu, however, still took the white porridge, drawing frequent glances from Qiu Yunran.

He knew but didn’t warn her. An Jiu observed everything silently.

The two women quickly left the kitchen with their food, retracing their steps back to their quarters.

“Let’s eat together,” Qiu Yunran followed, catching up as they neared their rooms. “It’s no fun eating alone in the dark.”

An Jiu ignored him completely, entering her room without pausing.

“I don’t think eating in the dark with two or three people is any more fun!” Lou Mingyue coldly retorted before entering her room.

Qiu Yunran stood hesitantly in the courtyard with his snake soup for a moment, then called towards An Jiu’s room, “Miss Mei, let’s eat together.”

An Jiu paid no attention, as she had vaguely noticed many new items on her table. Cautiously approaching, she confirmed they were essential supplies. Setting down the porridge, she examined them: a water flask, two cloth bags, a tinderbox, rope, a dagger, two sets of dark training clothes, a cloak, a large overcoat, two pairs of boots made from some unknown leather, and a bedroll.

An Jiu measured the items and found they all fit her perfectly! The clothes and shoes were prepared recently. The instructors and Xu Zhi couldn’t have done this… She suddenly realized she had underestimated the unassuming Chief Steward Sheng.

This made An Jiu even more cautious.

After organizing the items, An Jiu sat in the chair and began eating the flatbread. Qiu Yunran, perhaps finding it boring, left after a while.

“Mei Fourteen, do you want some dishes?” Lou Mingyue called from outside.

“No need,” An Jiu replied. In this environment, she wouldn’t eat anything given by others.

Lou Mingyue didn’t insist, returning to her room with the dishes.

After finishing her meal in darkness, An Jiu sat quietly, trying to sense her dantian.

Mo Sigui had worried about this often but to little effect. An Jiu only felt emptiness, like primordial chaos.

After trying for a while, she gave up and began pacing the room before starting to exercise. Since regaining her inner force seemed impossible, she could only train this body.

About half an hour later, An Jiu was still doing push-ups. Just as she pushed herself up, she suddenly heard movement in the corridor. She froze, listening intently.

“Miss Mei?” Qiu Yunran called softly from outside the window as if testing.

An Jiu simply rolled across the floor, silently slipping under the bed like a cat.

The door bolt slowly loosened.

An Jiu gripped her dagger.

“What are you sneaking around for?” Lou Mingyue’s cold voice demanded.

Startled, Qiu Yunran straightened up, resuming his usual gentlemanly demeanor. “Ahem, I came to visit Miss Mei.”

“Get lost,” Lou Mingyue said.

“Lou Two…”

His words were cut short by Lou Mingyue’s sword at his throat. This was the difference in their abilities – Lou Mingyue could kill him as easily as crushing an ant.

“Calm down, I’ll leave, alright?” Qiu Yunran placated nervously.

Lou Mingyue withdrew her hand, and he quickly retreated.

An Jiu heard the footsteps fade away and emerged from under the bed. She said slowly, “That man is skilled with poisons. If he’s the type to hold grudges, his revenge could be endless trouble.”

Lou Mingyue was slightly surprised. “You didn’t drink the porridge?”

“No,” An Jiu lied. In reality, she had drunk nearly a bowl, but here, concealing even the slightest detail could mean survival.

Lou Mingyue didn’t ask why An Jiu had taken it if she wasn’t going to drink it. Instead, she continued their previous topic, “Indeed, a true gentleman would never do such a thing. Qiu Yunran is likely the vengeful type, but…”

She didn’t want to needlessly shed blood unless necessary.

An Jiu remained silent. If she had been in that situation, Qiu Yunran would already be a corpse.

Perhaps it’s good to keep a bottom line in one’s heart…

Darkness and silence reigned.

Outside, the sun rose and set again.

An Jiu trained herself in the darkness. Her clothes became wet with sweat, then dried, then wet again, countless times. After completing her final sit-up, only an hour remained before the assembly time. An Jiu wiped herself dry with her discarded clothes, changed into the new clothes and shoes, gathered her waist-length black hair, cut it to shoulder length, and tied it into a bun. She then sat back in the chair, wrapped in the blanket, and slept for a while.

With a quarter-hour left, An Jiu opened her eyes right in time.

At that moment, two knocks came from the wall next door.

An Jiu donned her cloak and left, joining Lou Mingyue to head to the training ground.

As they reached the corner, moonlight became visible. People were converging from all directions.

Thirteen people arrived punctually at the training ground, lining up in front of the martial arts platform.

Three black-clad figures stood on the platform.

All three wore cloaks, but their body shapes were distinct. The one on the left was tall and slender, the right one was burly, and the middle one… An Jiu glanced at the disturbingly twisted curves, concluding it was either a woman or that effeminate man.

“Everyone,” the middle person spoke, confirming An Jiu’s guess. The affected voice belonged to Instructor Di. “Having passed Konghejia’s initial trial, you’re now considered half-members of the Konghejia Army. However, this time is slightly different. The Konghejia Army has sent two special agents to oversee your training. Aren’t you excited?”

The crowd remained silent.

“You’re not very likable!” Instructor Di was unfazed, lightly clapping his hands and twisting his body in a new direction, slightly facing the burlier agent. His voice suddenly became coy, “Everyone’s here. The two agents can start selecting people. Oh, that little short one over there is yesterday’s new arrival and doesn’t count. The remaining twelve are just enough to divide.”

An Jiu looked at his finger pointing at her, inwardly cursing: You genderless primitive life form!

“This official has already tested that one’s aptitude. She’ll follow me,” Gu Jingfeng’s unique, clear voice reached everyone’s ears, calm yet brooking no argument.