“Go wash up too,” Xu Qi An said to Li Na, pointing at the pool before asking, “There are clean clothes stored in the Book of Earth fragment, right?”

“Yes, yes,” Li Na replied, leaping across the rocks before diving into the pool.

Xu Qi An turned his back and sat on a large boulder, with only Mu Nan Zhi and the small white fox in her arms beside him. After Red Tassel Guardian had brought them here, she had returned to the Ten Thousand Mountains.

“She’s Number Five, a member of our Heaven and Earth Society, a young girl from the Southern Borderlands’ Force Insect Tribe who has been staying at the Xu Manor in the capital,” Xu Qi An explained. “I’m planning to visit the Southern Borderlands, so I brought her along.”

Mu Nan Zhi stroked the little white fox’s head while gazing toward the pool, nodding calmly before offering a cool assessment: “She’s pretty with a good figure, but rather foolish. Someone that naive won’t survive long in the jianghu.”

She was referring to how the Southern Borderlands girl had so casually started undressing by the pool’s edge without even glancing back at the man behind her. Either she was too stupid or had ulterior motives.

In Mu Nan Zhi’s view, this act of openly presenting herself to Xu Qi An, whether intentional or not, was a challenge to her position.

Xu Qi An merely smiled without defending Li Na. Women were always petty and unreasonable about such matters. Trying to explain that Li Na had no ill intentions—that she simply lacked such awareness—would only make Mu Nan Zhi think he was making excuses and defending a green tea bitch.

Half an hour later, the master and disciple returned, cleaned of grime and wearing fresh, tidy clothes.

“Big Brother!” Xu Ling Yin came bounding over like a plump yet graceful piglet, leaping across the scattered rocks with her messy hair trailing behind her before throwing herself into Xu Qi An’s arms.

Xu Qi An caught his sister without budging and then handed her over to Mu Nan Zhi. “Please help her tie her hair in children’s buns.”

He took the small white fox that Mu Nan Zhi passed to him in exchange.

Bai Ji’s dark eyes curiously examined Xu Ling Yin as she softly said, “So she’s your sister!”

Yes, you’re a fox cub, and she’s a human cub… Xu Qi An made an affirmative sound before introducing them: “Ling Yin, this is Bai Ji, the sister of one of your big brother’s friends. You should get along well with her.”

“Okay, Big Brother!” Xu Ling Yin nodded vigorously, reaching out with her chubby hand to pat Bai Ji’s head before turning away and quietly swallowing.

“Why are you swallowing?” Xu Qi An demanded.

“I’m not swallowing,” Xu Ling Yin argued.

“You just swallowed.”

“I’m just hungry…”

Listening to the siblings’ exchange, Bai Ji silently pressed closer to Xu Qi An’s embrace, suddenly feeling somewhat less secure.

After Mu Nan Zhi finished tying the little dumpling’s hair into children’s buns, Xu Qi An asked, “What happened? Why are you in such a sorry state?”

Upon hearing this, Li Na immediately showed a troubled expression: “We kept running into problems along the way. The Central Plains people we met either wanted to sleep with me or eat Ling Yin, but we fought them all off. Later, an elderly person advised us to disguise ourselves as refugees, with Ling Yin pretending to be simple-minded, saying that would draw less attention. We followed the advice, and sure enough, we stopped having troubles.”

These few simple sentences immediately made Xu Qi An understand how dire the situation in Yu Province had become.

Starving refugees had already begun resorting to cannibalism.

And any woman with looks, if lacking the ability to protect herself, could only become a plaything in such chaotic times.

Human nature is a hypocritical and cruel beast, with laws as its cage and morality as its chains. But as order gradually collapses, this fierce beast breaks free of its restraints. The ancients said when propriety and music decay, the nation will surely fall—this is what they meant… Xu Qi An sighed inwardly.

The group lit a bonfire by the triple waterfall. Xu Qi An caught several wild chickens and set up an iron pot to cook rice and meat. After eating and drinking their fill, they continued southward, entering the Southern Borderlands territory.

…

In the military camp of Yun Province, inside the commander’s tent.

Qi Guang Bo stood before a map of Qing Province mounted on a frame, using a bamboo stick to point at several cities on the map one by one.

“Next, to advance our military line to Qing Province City, we need to break through three defense lines. The first line consists of Songshan County, Dongling, and Wanjun. I want you to take these three cities within five days.”

He tapped the characters for “Songshan” with his bamboo stick and said, “Songshan in particular—bordered by steep peaks to the south and the Song River to the west—has difficult approach routes. To attack the city, we can only breach through the east and north gates. This place is like a nail, pinning down our westward advance. Yang Gong must have stationed heavy forces to guard it.

“Who will pull out this nail for me?”

Ji Xuan said indifferently, “I can take this city within three days.”

He was volunteering for this task.

Qi Guang Bo shook his head: “You can’t go. You need to attack Dongling. Draw out Sun Xuan Ji for me, and attract Qing Province’s attention.”

“General, please entrust this task to me!”

From among the seated officers, a tall and imposing commander stood up. His left eye was a cloudy gray, seemingly blind, but his right eye gleamed with a sharp, cold light.

This man was called Zhuo Hao Ran, nicknamed “Butcher Zhuo.” He had a belligerent and bloodthirsty nature—when he went berserk, he made no distinction between the elderly, weak, women, children, or able-bodied men.

When he had been a mountain bandit, he never left survivors when raiding merchant caravans, and every few days would lead his men to massacre civilians for the thrill of it.

Due to his violent temperament, other commanders in the Yun Province army despised him, but there was no denying his exceptional military command and combat abilities.

Qi Guang Bo had personally praised him as a rare military talent.

“Good!”

Qi Guang Bo smiled. “If you can’t take Songshan County within five days, you’ll come back here to clean horse stalls.”

Zhuo Hao Ran licked his lips, his right eye gleaming with cold excitement.

After settling this matter, Qi Guang Bo smiled and said, “If we’re lucky, we’ll have new reinforcements within half a month.”

Ji Xuan frowned: “The Buddhist sect needs to preserve their strength to deal with the Southern Demons, and as for the Shamanic Religion, the Imperial Teacher has attempted negotiations, but the Great Shaman refused the alliance.”

His eyes brightened: “The Insect Tribes?”

Qi Guang Bo nodded, glancing at the other commanders who also showed pleased expressions:

“Otherwise, wouldn’t you find it strange? Where did Ge Wen Xuan go?”

Ge Wen Xuan was the Imperial Teacher’s disciple and also an outstanding commander among the young faction in Hidden Dragon City. He excelled in strategy, and his tactics for deploying troops were masterful.

Such an exceptional young commander should have had a place in the command tent.

But after the Yun Province army’s uprising, he disappeared, never showing himself.

Qi Guang Bo said in a deep voice:

“Since our army left Yun Province, the Supervisor has been like a sword hanging over our heads. The Imperial Teacher and Garuda Tree Bodhisattva are keeping him in check, but they’re equally constrained by him.

“This leaves the Imperial Teacher no time to plan other matters. The situation in the Ten Thousand Mountains and the alliance between the Myriad Beast Kingdom and Xu Qi An are examples of this.

“Fortunately, the Imperial Teacher had foreseen this and left ingenious contingency plans for Ge Wen Xuan to execute.”

Ji Xuan nodded slowly.

After the uprising, the Imperial Teacher and the Supervisor joined the game board, turning their previous hidden competition into open warfare.

While he and Garuda Tree kept the Supervisor in check, they were equally constrained by him, unable to plan other matters.

During this time, it had given Xu Qi An room to maneuver, leading to the current tense situation in the Ten Thousand Mountains.

“I knew it! How could the Imperial Teacher run out of strategies so easily?”

“Without the Buddhist sect, but with the Insect Tribes’ military aid, the result will be the same.”

“The Southern Borderlands Insect Tribes have long-standing grievances with Great Feng. They will surely send troops. We need only wait for reinforcements.”

The commanders had an almost blind faith in Xu Ping Feng.

…

Two days later, a group of four people and one fox emerged from the wilderness onto the level official road.

Under Li Na’s guidance, the group skillfully avoided the tribes along the way and finally arrived in Force Insect Tribe territory.

“Another eighty li ahead is Bo Mountain, our Force Insect Tribe’s headquarters,” Li Na said with a bounce, her face radiating the joy of homecoming.

Behind her, Xu Ling Yin gripped the Taiping Blade, clearing a path through the thorny vegetation for everyone to pass through.

“Finally, there’s a proper road…” Xu Qi An said irritably. “Why won’t you admit you got lost? Why didn’t we take this official road earlier instead of climbing mountains and crossing ridges?”

“Oh, I wasn’t lost! I was taking a shortcut while avoiding those annoying tribes,” Li Na explained.

Xu Qi An adjusted Mu Nan Zhi’s position on his back, feeling the Flower Goddess reincarnation’s soft, voluptuous body, and said, “Alright, let’s keep moving.”

The mountain paths had been too difficult to traverse, and Mu Nan Zhi had quickly tired, forcing Xu Qi An to carry her.

Now that they had emerged from the mountains, he should have put her down, but Mu Nan Zhi’s tender body and round, springy bottom provided such pleasant sensations that Xu Qi An was reluctant to let go.

Mu Nan Zhi hadn’t asked to walk on her own either, and the shameless couple maintained a tacit silence.

The eighty-li journey would take about a day on foot. After walking for half an hour, the wilderness grew less mountainous and more plains-like. The Southern Borderlands’ climate was mild, the mountains still verdant, with wild grass swaying along the roadside.

The cold disaster in the Central Plains hadn’t affected this region at all.

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, a whistling sound came from the left, aimed directly at Xu Qi An.

Without breaking stride, he turned his head and gave a gentle blow, causing the terrifyingly powerful arrow that had been whistling like lightning to flutter away like a weak willow catkin in the wind.

From the bushes on the left emerged two young men wearing clothes sewn from animal hides and carrying buffalo horn bows on their backs.

They had dark skin, pale blue eyes, and naturally curly hair.

“You’re not merchants. You can’t enter our Force Insect Tribe’s territory,” the square-faced young man on the left warned in the Southern Borderlands language.

The young man on the right had already drawn his bow and nocked an arrow, aiming at Xu Qi An.

He was the only male in their group.

However, the two Force Insect Tribe young men didn’t show much hostility, likely because Xu Ling Yin’s presence had put them at ease.

“Tu Long, Mu Tou, it’s me! It’s me!” Li Na waved her arms excitedly, clearly familiar with these young men.

“Who are you?” the square-faced man examined her suspiciously.

Li Na was stunned by the question, pointing at her face: “It’s me, I’m Li Na!”

“Bullshit. You’re fair and delicate, obviously a Central Plains woman.”

The other young man with a drawn bow released his arrow toward Li Na.